


Countdown

by RidingMalum



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F, F/M, M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-20
Updated: 2017-01-16
Packaged: 2018-06-09 12:31:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 23,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6907342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RidingMalum/pseuds/RidingMalum
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I'm falling for your eyes but they don't know me yet.</p><p>*****NOT FINISHED******</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**_00:01:05:12:57_ **

"I wasn't sure that she was my soulmate at first but when she smiled I swear the world stopped," Hercules said, his arms were waving around as he told his two friends what had happened that after noon.

Lafayette rolled his eyes while Alexander smiled.

Alexander loved hearing people talk about how they met their soulmate. Even though Lafayette was shaking his head and rolling his eyes, Alex knew that he was just as happy to hear that their friend found his soulmate.

There was just something about it that seemed magical. Maybe people were exaggerating, but Alex really wanted to find out. Ever since his clock got down to one month he's been even more excited, which, if you ask his friends, they'll tell you that it just wasn't possible, that Alex was always excited about something.

Alexander was the only one left of his friends to have not found their soulmates(s). Hercules met his earlier today. And Lafayette met his last year.

"Her eyes are gorgeous, I don't think that I couldn't even find the right words to describe them." Hercules was still gushing on about this girl.

Alex realized that he didn't even know her name. He was planning on asking when Hercules decided that he would eventually need to breathe, but so far it looked like Hercules didn't want to take a break.

"She has shiny black hair too. I know i've only known her for a day but I can't stop thinking about running my hands through her hair."

"You haven't even known her for a full day," Lafayette said, Alex noticed that he was smiling, " _en vérité_ , you've known her for about five hours."

"True," Alex chimed in.

Hercules waved off their comments and continued to talk, "She's shorter than me too. It's probably the cutest thing i've ever seen."

Alex didn't know if he wanted to laugh because his friend was acting like a lovesick puppy or because literally everyone is shorter than Hercules.

"You know, you've never told us her name," Alex finally said once Hercules stopped talking to take a breath of air.

He was sure that Hercules smile couldn't get any bigger. He was wrong.

"Her name is Elizabeth," Hercules said and Alex started to worry that his friends face would split in his face in half he smiled any bigger, "but she told me to call her Eliza."

 _That's a beautiful name,_ Alex thought. He shouldn't be surprised because from what Hercules has been saying about her, she sounded beautiful.

"Well Eliza sounds _magnifique_ ," Lafayette said as he stood up and patted Hercules on the shoulder, " I'm heading to bed, goodnight"

"Night," Hercules and Alex called after him in unison.

Alex looked at his friend and smiled.

"I really am happy for you," Alex said, his smile was soft.

"I know," Hercules returned his smile and stood, "I'm going to go and text Eliza, if I don't come back out just assume I died from happiness."

"Alright," Alex laughed and relaxed back on the couch.

He really was happy for his friends. He was happy that they had found their soulmates. Yeah, he was a bit jealous, but he wouldn't admit it. He just wanted to meet his soulmate and he hoped that his soulmate wanted to meet him.

He glanced down at the clock on his wrist and sighed.

**_00:01:05:12:34_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can find me at my tumblr - http://myxdear.tumblr.com/


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eliza looks for the perfect outfit for her date. Angelica rolls her eyes but helps her sister anyways. And John, well, he's just along for the ride.

_**00:01:03:17:42** _

"I don't know what to wear," Eliza squeals from below a mountain of clothes. "Someone help me please!"

Angelica gets up from her spot next to John and goes over to help her sister up. Laurens watches with amusement as Eliza stumbles and almost falls back down when Angelica pulls her up.

"Hey, don't laugh at me!" Eliza says as she turns around to playfully glare at John.

He holds up his hands in mock surrender and laughs anyways.

"Seriously though, I need help finding something to wear," Eliza pouts as she throws around clothes. Laurens ducks before a blue dress hit him.

"Is it really that big of a deal?" John asks. He's currently laying down on Eliza's bed and he has no plans on getting up anytime soon.

Angelica glares at him from behind her sister. Eliza doesn't even spare him a glace as she continues to search through her closet for an outfit.

"Just because you haven't met your soulmate, John, doesn't mean that I can't look nice for mine," Eliza shouts from inside her closet.

"Ouch" Angelica mouths. And John winces.

No he hasn't met his soulmate yet but judging by the clock on his wrist he should meet them soon. If he's being perfectly honest, Laurens didn't really want to meet his soulmate. It's not that Laurens thinks that he won't like his soulmate, He just doesn't think that they'll like him.

Sure, John is good looking and he is almost too loyal, but he has his flaws. Flaws that some people can't see past. He's been told before that his personality a bit more than aggressive and he tends to use his fists more than his words when someone is being ignorant. _But if you can get past that i'm a great guy,_ John thinks to himself.

Eliza looks over her shoulder to see that John hasn't moved since she last looked at him.

"Sorry, was that mean?" Eliza says, her words dripping with sarcasm.

John rolls his eyes at her and tosses a tank top at her. She yelps as it hits her.

She points a finger at John before she says, "If you're not going to help then you can leave."

John knows that she doesn't mean it but he gets up and makes his way over to her.

"If this guy is really your soulmate then I don't think that he will care what you wear," John says, he's digging around in the pile of clothes in the middle of the room and comes across a green sweater. He furrows his eyebrows when he sees it and picks it. "Why do you have my sweater?"

Eliza looks at the sweater briefly before shrugging.

"I borrowed it from Angelica."

John turns to glare at the girl beside him and raises an eyebrow.

"I don't remember taking it," It's a lie he can tell by the way Angelica avoids eye contact.

He doesn't really mind, the Schuyler are always stealing his clothes.

"Oh my god!" Eliza yells and runs out of her closet. She's holding up a white sweater and blue jeans. "How about this?"

Like always, Angelica is the first to speak, "Maybe you should try it on and see how it looks?"

Eliza nods quickly and rushes into the bathroom.

After Eliza leaves Angelica turns to John and they both break into laughter. They can't help it, Eliza is just so adorable.

"I'm lucky I don't have to go through this," Angelica says as she sits down next to John. _That's not the only thing she should be lucky about,_ John thinks bitterly as he looks down at her wrist. She's the only person that he knows that doesn't have a clock. _She's lucky that she doesn't have to stress about meeting soulmate._

"I don't think everyone is as extreme as our dear Eliza," John throws a smile Angelica's way. She returns it with one of her own.

"True," She says as Eliza walks back in.

Eliza spins in a circle, showing her outfit off.

"Nope, that's not it," Angelica says as she stands up. John frowns, he thought that the outfit was cute.

"Here, try this one," Angelica tosses a white dress with yellow flowers on it at Eliza. She catches it and before she says another word she's out of the door and in the bathroom.

"I liked the sweater," Laurens mumbles which causes Angelica to laugh.

"I liked it too, but it's just not the outfit for tonight," Angelica says. She looks down at him and rolls her eyes, "Don't make that face. I bet that you'll act the same way when you meet your soulmate."

John crinkles his nose. He doesn't like the idea of acting different for a stranger.

Eliza runs back in and twirls again. John sees now why Angelica made her change. Yeah, the sweater was cute but Eliza looks breathtaking in the dress. He looks back at Angelica to see that she's smiling at her younger sister.

The doorbell rings which causes Eliza jumps.

"Do you think that Hercules will like it?" Eliza asks. John notes that she looks nervous for the first time that night. It's just a guess but John doesn't think that she's only talking about the outfit.

"I think that he'll love it," Angelica smiles. She goes over to her sister and hugs her.

They walk Eliza to the door. John doesn't know what he was expecting but when the door opens he's more than a little surprised.

Standing in the doorway is a tall dark man. When John says tall he's not kidding. John is a good 6 foot 2 but even he has to look up at the man. He imagines that the stranger could be intimidating if he wanted to but John is reminded of a teddy bear when the stranger smiles down at Eliza. He's holding pink tulips in his hands and without a words he thrusts them towards Eliza. His cheeks are slightly red, he must be nervous _._ She smiles up at him and John feels a small ache in his chest. Okay, maybe he does want someone to look at him that way.

Angelica coughs and the two finally look away from each other and instead turn their sights on the girl standing next to John. 

"Are you going to introduce us?" Angelica's stare has turned icy, and John would be scared if he knew that she wasn't faking it. He knows that Angelica is happy for her sister but she also wants to frighten the tall man.

Eliza turns to look at her and first the first time that night her glare is real. John almost wants to run and hide. The Schuyler sisters were nice girls but they knew how to frighten someone. John can't help but be slightly glad that Peggy isn't there. Two scary sisters are enough without adding a third.

"Stop it," Eliza mouths to Angelica before standing up straighter and putting a smile on her face, "Hercules, this is my older sister Angelica," She says motioning to her sister, "And this is John, one of my best friends."

He sticks his hand out to Hercules. He takes it and they shake hands. Hercules, John notes, has a good handshake, he's always liked people who have a good handshake.

"I hope your intention are pure," John smiles. Eliza rolls her eyes and swats Johns arm. He's only kidding, well, he's mostly kidding.

"We're going to leave now," Eliza says and grabs one of Hercules hands.

"Have her back by midnight!" Angelica calls after them. John hears them laughing and Hercules shouting back "I will!"

They stand in the doorway for moment after, watching the pair walk away. Once they're out of their sight Angelica turns to John and rolls her eyes. She closes the door and locks it.

"Aren't soulmates cute?" Angelica smiles, mostly to herself. She walks down the hall to Eliza's bedroom.

John looks down at the clock on his wrist and subconsciously wishes that it would countdown faster.

**_00:01:03:16:12_ **

_Yeah, I suppose soulmates are kind of cute,_ John thinks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can find me at my tumblr here - http://myxdear.tumblr.com/


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jefferson and Lafayette get it on, and Alex makes a new friend when he goes for a walk in the park.

_**00:00:31:13:43** _

It’s a warm summers day. A perfect day to go for a walk in the park. Or at least that’s what Alexander keeps telling himself. He was never a fan of walking for fun. The only good thing was the cool breeze.

The only reason that Alexander was on this stupid walk was because of Lafayette and his boyfriend, Thomas. Some people, Alex thought angrily, should learn how to be quiet when they have sex. It didn’t help that Alex’s room was right next to Lafayette’s and the walls were as thin as paper.

When Jefferson and Lafayette first started to date Alex was convinced that if he looked outside he would see pigs flying. In retrospect Alex should have realized that there was a possibility of  Lafayette and Jefferson being soulmates. He always considered the two of them in completely different parts of his life. Two parts that should have never met. Like he said though, he should have seen it coming. The biggest sign was that the two of them looked strangely alike and as much as they denied it, Alex knew that the only thing that they love more than themselves is the mirror. When he first met Jefferson, it was one of the things that he hated the most about him but when Lafayette became one of his best friends it somehow became endearing.

 _That’s hypocritical,_ Alex thinks, _yeah it is, but frankly I don’t give a damn._

Anyways it didn’t matter how great of a friend Lafayette is. He was having loud sex with someone he hates in the room next to him. And Alex was trying to get work done, but he couldn’t focus on anything other than how much he wanted to put his head through his desk.

So here he is, in the middle of the park on a warm day trying to erase the memory of Jefferson moaning out of his brain.

Alex saw a bench a few steps away and quickly walked over and sat down. He looked around the park. It really was a nice day, not just because the weather was nice, but because everyone seemed so happy. Kids were running around smiling, dogs were catching things that their owners threw, and a few feet away from him were a pair of teenagers who were blushing and staring at the ground more than the person in front of them.

He still wasn’t happy with being forced to go on a walk, but being in an area where so much joy surrounding him, he couldn’t help but let a goofy smile take over his lips.

Less than a second later a Frisbee was flying towards him and thanking his slow reflexes he gets hit in the middle of the forehead with it. And of course a moment later a large black dog is jumping in his lamp followed by a young woman running towards up to him, apologizing profusely.

“I’m so sorry,” The woman is standing in front of him now. She grabs the dog by the collar and attempts to pull the dog off of Alexanders lap. It doesn't work so well. Alex is convinced that it is because the dog looks like it weights fifty more pounds than she does.

“It’s fine, really,” Alex says, he looks up at her and smiles. He didn’t want her to worry about something that wasn’t a big deal.

When he finally gets used to the sun shining in his eyes he notices that the girl looks like she weighs less than the dog. Not because she’s necessarily skinny, but because the dog is just that big.

“I’m Alexander, but you can call me Alex,” He says as he raises a hand up for a handshake. He would stand up but he deems that impossible with a hulk sized dog on his lap. The girl looks down at his hand and furrows her eyebrows. Is it weird to shake a strangers hand, Alex thinks, or maybe she just thinks it’s odd.

A second goes by before she’s grabbing his hand and shaking it. She smiles at him and Alex can’t help but feel helpless. He’s never met anyone who was capable of making him speechless, but being watching this woman smile no words even think to come out.

“I’m Peggy,” She’s still smiling as she says this, “It’s nice to meet you Alexander.”

“You know, you can call me Alex,” He says once he’s capable of talking again.

“I heard you,” Peggy rolls her eyes as she says this, “but Alexander has a nice ring to it.”

Alex glances down quickly at his clock and even though he knows he has a month left until he meets his soulmate, he’s still surprised that Peggy didn’t stop his clock.

She sits down next to him on the bench and continues to talk. He’s content listening to her talk. Alex wonders if she  has this affect on him and she isn’t is soulmate, hes kind of nervous to learn how his soulmate will make him feel.

“Peggy!” Another girl comes running up to them, “I’ve been looking for you and Elvis everywhere!”

Peggy stands up and the dog, Elvis Alex corrects himself, starts to lick his cheek.

With Peggy standing next to this other girl it’s obvious that the new girl is taller. Hell, Alexander wouldn’t be surprised if she was taller than him. She has short dark brown hair with curls that look like they would bounce. She's curvier than Peggy and her eyes are hazel. The color of her eyes aren't what make Alex stop on his tracks though, they have an odd twinkle about them. It makes alex feel like she knows something that he doesn't.

“There’s no need to worry. I was with Alexander the whole time,” Peggy says, she’s still smiling. Alex wonders if she ever stops smiling. He hopes that she doesn’t.

“Who the hell is Alexander?" The other girl questions. Their conversation only involves the two of them and Alex feels like an intruder.

“The person that Elvis is laying on,” Peggy says like it's obvious.

The other girl looks at Alex for the first time and Alex wants nothing but to shrink into the ground and turn into an ant. The fire in her eyes only intensifies when she looks over at him. Or maybe that's just in his imagination.

“Hi,” his voice is small but he manages to bring up his hand for a handshake. She looks down at it but doesn't shake it.

She looks at Peggy and the heat in her gaze softens. It's not as scalding as it was before instead it's now warm and comfortable. And just like Peggy, Alex melts.

“Don’t be rude to my friend,” She says. Alex isn’t sure how they became friends within a couple of minutes but he doesn’t think that he minds.

The other girl looks at him but this time something about her is more friendly. She's not smiling but Alex can still see the fire in her eyes. Alex is still slightly frightened of this mystery girl but he he might admire her. 

“It’s nice to meet you Alexander,” The girl still doesn’t hold out her hand for a hand shake. “I’m Maria.”

She turns back to Peggy before he has time to reply, “I thought that we agreed last time. If you wonder of you would tell me first.”

Alex is reminded of a parent scolding their child. But Peggy has a sly smile on her lips. Once again Alex feels like he doesn't really belong in this conversation.

“This time I only went twenty feet,” Peggy says, she’s smiling and Alex smiles too, “last time it happened I ended up in Tennessee, so really, you can’t compare the two.

Maria sighs and shakes her head but she's wearing a fond smile.

"I’m going to go and get ice cream, would you like anything?” Maria asks Peggy. Alex is almost positive that if Peggy was a dog her ears would have perked up.

“I’ll go with you!” She exclaims.

This time Maria grabs a hold of Elvis’s collar and tugs lightly. The dog gets off of his lap. Alex makes a mental note to never fuck with Maria.

“Do you have a pen and paper?” Peggy finally turns to Alex again. Of course I have a pen and a piece of paper with me. _Don’t you know who I am,_ Alex thinks, _Jeez, she just met you of course she doesn’t know you._

“Yeah, hold on,” Alex says as he reaches into his pants pocket and pulls out a packet of post-it-notes. He reaches into his other pocket and pulls out a pen. He holds up both of the items proudly.

Peggy grabs both and quickly writes something down. She hands them both back to Alex and kisses him on the cheek, “You’re officially my friend now, call me sometime, Alexander!”

She turns around and runs to catch up to Maria and Elvis. Alex looks down at her writing and sees a phone number. He stuffs it into his pocket. He’s only known Peggy for a few short minutes but it feels like an honor to call Peggy his friend.

——–

He is no longer sitting on the park bench, instead he’s moved to sit next to the small pond. He’s laying down and looking at the night sky. He would have walked home hours ago but knowing Lafayette and Jefferson he didn’t know whether they would be done or not. He’s sure that Lafayette would notice that he was gone eventually and call him and tell him that it’s safe to come home. Alex was just waiting for the phone call.

Right now though, he was at peace listening to the ducks quaking and watching the stars twinkle.

When Alex’s phone started to ring he wasn’t sure how much time had passed. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked to see who was calling. It was Lafayette, Alex wondered briefly if he knew that he was thinking about him calling.

Either way he answers the phone.

“Hello,” Alex hums into the phone. He closed his eyes he didn’t realize how tired he was before.

“Thomas and I are one done now,” A french accent says through the phone. “You can come back now.”

“Is Jefferson still there?” Alex asked. If he was Alex was just fine with staying right where he was. He didn’t need Jefferson to ruin his mood.

 _“non_ , he’s gone.” Lafayette sighs.

“Alright then, i’m heading back now,” Alex said as he stood up.

He dusts himself off and pockets his phone. He takes one last look up at the night sky before heading home.

 _How wonderful it is to think that the stars all know their place in the universe and I don’t have a clue where my place is meant to be,_ Alex thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can find me at my tumblr here - http://myxdear.tumblr.com/


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peggy tells John about her uncontrollable dog and about a guy she met in the park.

_**00:00:29:10:43** _

Beans 'n Cream Cafe was a small coffee shop. It was located between an old book shop and a record store. John visited the coffee shop at least four times a week. Not just for the coffee but because it was a relaxing place to be. Acoustic covers were played quietly throughout the shop. The atmosphere was warm and comforting.

Well, It usually was. John was sitting across from the youngest Schuyler sister listening to her talk about her girlfriend and there time at the park. More like ranting, John thinks as he takes a sip of his drink. When Peggy had first met Maria she had fallen head first into love. Even after three years together she still managed to compliment her girlfriend while ranting about her.

"So we were in the park the other day taking Elivis for a walk, I should mention that we were having a great time," Peggy says, she takes a sip of her drink and it almost sloshes out of the cup when she sets it back down. "Anyways, Elvis and I are playing around and I guess that I throw the Frisbee too hard and Elvis chases after and I've got to chase after him because I couldn't see where I threw the Frisbee."

John nods along to her story. She becomes very animated when she talks. I've known her for years and i've never seen her act anything but energetic, John notes.

"So the Frisbee must have hit this guy because when I finally catch up to Elvis, he's sitting on this guys lap." John winces, having Elvis sit on your lap is never fun. Elvis is almost as hyper as his owner. I also doesn't help that he is as large as a small horse.

"By the way, you should have seen this guy. He's totally your type," Peggy says with a wide grin.

John huffs out a small chuckle, "I don't have a type. Even if he was my type, what makes you think that he hasn't already met his soulmate?"

"Because I saw his clock. He has 30 days or so left until he meets his soulmate," Peggy rolls her eyes as if it were obvious.

Johns grip on his cup tighten momentarily. If what Peggy says is true then this man that she met would have close to the same time as him. I'm just getting impatient. What are the chances of this random man being my soulmate. He looks at Peggy. She's eating the whip cream off of the top of her drink. She seems to be oblivious to what she insinuated.

  
"Back to my story," Peggy says waving a hand. "So I tried to pull Elvis off of this guy but he doesn't budge. Alexander, that's the guys name isn't it wonderful, didn't seem to mind that Elvis was lounging on him. I decided that it was useless to attempt to pull at him any longer so I just sat down and started talking to Alexander."

John knows no one can control that lovable dog.

"You should know better than anyone that you can't make Elvis do anything that he doesn't want to do," John laughs.

Peggy shakes her head and laughs, "trust me I know. But then Maria comes up to us and she's so rude to Alexander."

"Why?" John asks when Peggy pauses.

"She said that she was worried that I wondered off again," Peggy sighs. "I told her that she didn't have to worry I was just chases after our wild dog."

"Okay, but why was she rude to Alexander?"

"You know how she gets when she's worried."

John makes a small noise of agreement. Maria is definitely a force to be reckon with when she is angry.

"She does have a reason to worry when you wonder off. Don't you remember what happened last time?" John asks.

Peggy shrugs the question off, "it was one time! I was curious to see how much money it would take me to get to Florida."

"You didn't make it to Florida, though. You called me to come and get you once you got to Tennessee," John points out.

"She still worries too much," Peggy says.

John shakes his head in defeat.

"Anyways," Peggy starts talking again. John looks at her to see that she has a sly smirk on her lips. He sighs, whenever a Schuyler sister has that look on their faces it isn't good.

"Anyways?"

"Anyways," Peggy smiles, "I could give you Alexander's phone number."

John rolls his eyes. He really thought that Peggy was going to let this topic drop. He was obviously wrong.

_There's no point in getting someone's phone number if both of our timers are going to stop soon._

"I don't see  what the point in that would be," John mumbles.

Peggy has tried to set him up since she's known him. John has even gone on a couple of the dates that she put together, but he knew that none of them were going to work out. Peggy insisted that it was because John had gone in with a negative attitude Of course, John disagreed with that. The dates didn't go bad. In fact, John tried his hardest to be the best date. He learned a long time ago that it wasn't a smart idea to piss of a Schuyler. _I even dated one of the girls that she set me up with,_ John thinks. He involuntarily shudders, _Martha was a nice girl, but I am never doing that again._

"Well, what if he's your soulmate?" Peggy's asks him, John can tell that she's getting frustrated. "Even if he's not, he's a cool guy and I think that the two of you would be great friends."

John tries to contain him glare but judging by the look that Peggy is giving him, he's failing miserably.

"First of all, we're not soulmates. What would the chances of a guy that you met randomly in the park being my soulmate?" John is getting exasperated. He loves Peggy, truly he does. But she had a tendency to push things that didn't want to get pushed. "Second of all, I don't need anymore friend!"

"You can never have too many friends!"

"Yeah, you can."

"Eliza, Angie, and I can not be your only friends."

John rolls his eyes. He knows that this isn't the real reason that she won't let this go. But he refuses to talked into another blind date.

"Why are you trying to force me into talking to this, _Alexander_?"

Peggy's hand comes crashing down on the table. This causes John to flinch. He was never good with loud noises. Loud noises meant someone was angry and when someone is angry at him he runs. Only he has nowhere to run. _Dammit, this is Peggy she won't do anything. When has she ever done anything to you when she was mad._

She's standing more than she is sitting, and she's leaning so far over the table that their noses are practically touching.

"There is something wonderful about him," Peggy growls. Like actually growls, John is almost positive that she would put a snarling dog to shame. "I don't know what but something about him tells me that he's going to be important."

Several years from now John is going to look back at this moment and smiling with a knowing grin. In retrospect, he should have realized that Schuyler sisters are always right.

_00:00:29:9:27_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can find me at my tumblr here - http://myxdear.tumblr.com/


	5. Chapter 5

The first thing that Alex notices when he opens is eyes is a bright white ceiling. It's only a small difference from his normally dirty white ceiling, but it's enough to make him panic.

" _Il se réveille_ ," Alex here's Lafayette and turns his head. He winces at the stiffness. " _Je vous appellerai plus tard,_ Martha."

Lafayette stands from his chair in the corner and walks over to Alex. He touches Alex's cheek lightly and attempts a smile. He's worried. Alex frowns, he doesn't like seeing his friends upset.

"Were you talking to Martha?" Alex asks. His throat feels raw.

" _Oui_ ," Lafayette replies quietly. "The Washington's are very worried about you, petit lion."

Alex hums and glances around the room. It's obvious that he's in a hospital. He's not sure how he got here or why. The last thing he remembers is leaving Peggy's house, and even the memory of that is blurry. He doesn't remember why he was at Peggy's and he doesn't remember what he did after.

He looks over by the window where Hercules is sitting. From the snoring echoing off of the walls, Alex is assuming that his friend is asleep.

"I'm in a hospital,"

" _Oui_ ,"

"I've been asleep for days, haven't I?"

Lafayette doesn't say anything this time. He just nods. Alex's eyes start to burn. He doesn't want to cry but he feels helpless. He hates hospitals and he ended up in one without knowing.

"How long have I been asleep?" Alex whispers. Lafayette pours him some water and hands him a plastic cup. Alex attempts a weak smile and drinks the water in three big gulps.

"Four days, _mon amie_ ," Lafayette is stroking his hair. Alex closes his eyes for a moment and sighs. Four days is a lot.

"Why am I here," Alex asks. He looks up at Lafayette and sees that his hair is wild. He hasn't slept. He wouldn't let his hair get that bad otherwise. "What happened?"

"You were in a car accident," Lafayette looks down at the ground. He won't make eye contact with Alex. "an _imbécile_ didn't stop at a red light and they hit you."

Alex clears his throat and blinks back the tears that are forming in his eyes.

"I don't remember that."

"The doctors said that you might not remember."

Alex hears a noise from the corner and looks over. His vision is blurry from the tears in his eyes but he can see Hercules getting up and stumbling over to him. He tries his best to smile up at the giant.

"I was wondering when you were going to wake up," Hercules smiles down at him.

He sits up slowly. A sharp pain shoots through his back. He finally looks down at his injuries. He has a cast on his right leg and another on his left arm. His sides hurts as well as his back.

A moment later a doctor walks in. He doesn't smile at Alex. In fact, he doesn't even look up from the chart that he's staring at. He's tall, not as tall as Hercules, but he has to be at least 6 foot. He has dark drown hair that looks ruffled. He's handsome, too bad he won't look up from the chart.

"Mr.Hamilton," The doctor says. He's flipping through papers. "I see that you're awake."

"It seems like I am," Alex mumbles. He looks at Lafayette briefly who is no longer looking at the ground but is now looking at he doctor like he wants to set him on fire. He then looks at Hercules who is being more subtle with his dislike. He's holding Alex's hand. He's rubbing his thumb over Alex's knuckles soothingly. 

The doctor doesn't look amused by his comment. He looks up at Alex for the first time.

"I'm Dr.Reynolds," He leans forward to shake Aex's hand. "We've been waiting for you to wake up. I didn't think that you would be asleep for so long."

_Well isn't that comforting._

"Why didn't I wake up earlier?" Alex asks. He squeezes Hercules hand. He's nervous and he doesn't know why.

"Well, you have don't have a head injury. It's a guess but i'm pretty sure that it was just the trauma from the accident."

Alex nods. I don't have a head injury, that's good I suppose.

"You do have a couple of broken bones though," Dr.Reynolds says. He's looking at the chart again. "Not many, though."

_I'm lucky, that's what he's saying. I'm lucky that I didn't die._

"When can I leave," Alex asks. He doesn't want to stay longer than he has too.

Dr.Reynolds looks up at Alex and says, "If everything goes well then you should be able to leave within a couple of days."

 _That's good,_ Alex sighs.

"Do you have any question?"

Alex shakes his head and looks at his two friends. They shake their heads as well.

"I'll leave then. Just call for a nurse if you need me," Dr.Reynolds tells them before he walks out of the room.

Alex doesn't know what to say so he lays back down. Lafayette nudges him so he scoots over to let Lafayette lay down next to him. Hercules sits down in the chair that Lafayette had been sitting before Alex had woken up. Alex lays his head on Lafayette's shoulder. He so tired.

"How are you feeling, petit lion," Lafayette asks him quietly. Alex shakes his head slightly. "You're shaking."

He didn't even notice. Alex sighs and runs his hand over his wrist. It's a comfort thing. Counting down the minutes of his timer always grounds him.

"I just feel rattled," Alex replies.

He holds his wrist up to see the numbers. He furrows his eyebrows. Alex has heard about people breaking their timers before but he never thought that he would be one of them.

He just hopes that his soulmate won't break their timer before he meets them.

Alex looks away from his wrist. He can't stand to see 00:00:00:00:00 blinking up at him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations:  
> "Il se réveille. Je vous appellerai plus tard, Martha." - He's waking up. I'll call you later, Martha  
> \--  
> You can find me at my tumblr here - http://myxdear.tumblr.com/


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex meets Eliza and Angelica.

"When is are they gonna get here?" Herc shouted from the kitchen.

Alex picked up soda cans from the coffee table before shouting back, "They were suppose to get here a couple of minutes ago. So they should be here any second."

Alex laughed as he heard a groan from the kitchen. He didn't know why Hercules was stressing about this. Yeah, it was the first time that his girlfriend was coming over to their apartment but they've been dating for about a week now and the apartment wasn't _that messy._

There was a quiet knock on the door. Alex picked up one of his crutches and moved the soda cans to his other hand. He started to head to the kitchen to throw them away before Hercules ran out and almost hit him.

"I'll take those," Hercules said as he ripped the cans out of his hand. "You go get the door."

Alex nodded and headed to the door. When he finally got to the door he unlocked it and stepped back to open it. On the other side a girl that was taller than Alex was bringing her fist up to knock on the door again. When she saw him she let her fist fall.

"I'm Angelica," She said as she stuck her hand out.

Alex shifted his crutch to the other side of him so he could shake her hand.

"Alexander, but you can call me Alex."

He looked at the girl next to Angelica and smiled. She smiled in return.

"Eliza, nice to finally meet you."

So this was the famous Eliza. Herc was right, words couldn't describe how beautiful Eliza was.

Alex stepped to the side to let them walk in. Once he was inside he shut the door and followed them to the living room. Hercules was standing by the couch trying not to look awkward. Although when he saw Eliza walk into their living room a gigantic grin formed on his face. She all but ran to him and engulfed him in a hug.

Angelica scrunched up her nose and pretended to puke.

"So," Alex started. "When is Peggy going to get here?"

The two girls gave him a weird look before Eliza said, "She didn't tell you?"

Alex shook his head, confusion was written all over his face.

"She's staying over at one of our friends house. She planned to come over with him, but he got sick last minute," Angelica said once she saw how confused he was.

"Is your friend okay?" Herc finally spoke up. He was looking down at Eliza with a worried expression. Maybe he knew who they were talking about.

"Of course he'll be okay," Angelica waved off the question. "John is a tough motherfucker."

Angelica sat down on the couch and patted the seat next to her. Alex thought that she was motioning for her sister to sit down, but he realized that she was looking at him. He walked over at sat down slowly on the couch. He put his crutch on the couch.

Hercules sat down on the chair to their right and Eliza squeezed in next to him.

"Are you sure that. _John_ , is okay though," Alex asked, suddenly curious. "I mean, if he's sick enough for Peggy to stay with him it doesn't sound good."

"He's not even that sick," Angelica said, she snuggled into the couch, "It's just a cold. He's whiny when he's sick and Peggy likes to help people who don't feel well."

She leaned forward for a moment to grab the remote and turned on Netflix.

"You should pick mine," Herc said as he looked away from Eliza. "The only other account on their is Lafs and all he watches is French movies. He hates when we mess up his account."

Angelica turned to Alex and raised her eye brow.

Alex smiled sheepishly and said, "I never made an account. I just use Herc's account because I don't have the time to make my own."

Hercules scoffed, "You have the time, you're just lazy."

Alex raised his middle finger at him and rolled his eyes. He watched as Angelica searched through the movies. She landed on one called "Hungry Hearts".

Angelica turned to him, not even bothering to ask the couple in the corner their opinion. "Do you mind if we watch this?"

Alex read the little description and shook his head. To be completely honest, he didn't care what the movie was about, he just saw that Adam Driver was in it.

Before Angelica pressed play she turned to Hercules and Eliza and shushed them. Eliza giggled and Herc buried his face in her neck.

"Soulmates," Angelica muttered before she shook her head and huffed out a laugh.

Alex looked at the couple and sighed. _Yeah, soulmates._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry that this chapter isn't that good. I also didn't mean for it to be so short.  
> \----  
> You can find me at my tumblr here - http://myxdear.tumblr.com/


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eliza drunk texts John.

_**00:00:20:02:33** _

John was finally starting to feel better again. His fever was going away which meant that he could breathe through his nose again, it probably shouldn't have excited him so much _but fuck it, it's great to breathe through my nose._ His head didn't feel so clouded anymore and he could actually finish a complete sentence without trying to cough up his lungs.

"96.2°F," Peggy took the thermometer out of his mouth. "It looks like you're better now."

Peggy had a small frown on her face when she said that.

"That sucks," Johns voice was laced with sarcasm. "It looks like you'll have to play nurse for someone else now."

She narrowed her eyes at him, "There is no need to be an ass."

John chuckled and sat up on the couch. Once he was situated Elvis jumped up onto the couch and laid down between Peggy and John.

"Okay, i'm sorry, i'm grateful that you wanted to help me." He said to Peggy with a smile. "Just to be clear, i'm not an ass."

Peggy laughed at that, "You're welcome. But you are an ass, probably an old man's ass."

John grimaced, "I could have gone without the mental image of that."

"I would say that i'm sorry, but i'm not." Peggy said as she stood up from the couch and stretched. She took out her phone from her pocket and groaned, "I should head home."

John took her phone and looked down at the time. He wasn't aware that it was 10.

"You can stay here if you want," he said as he handed the phone back to her, "It's late and I can tell that you're tired. You shouldn't be driving while you're tired."

Peggy hummed in agreement and flopped back down onto the small sofa. She started to pet Elvis absentmindedly. John watched as the large dog nuzzled her hand.

"So what do you want to do?" Peggy asked.

John shrugged.

"Are you hungry? I could order something, you never have anything in your fridge."

Another shrug. He wasn't all that hungry.

"Do you want to watch a movie?"

Nah, not really. So he shrugged again.

Peggy sighed, she looked exasperated. "Are you only going to shrug?"

With a smug look on his face, John shrugged again. That earned him a punch in the arm. He made a face and went to rub his arm. For such a tiny girl, she sure can hit hard.

"I don't really care what we do." He finally said. "Whatever you want to do, i'm fine with it."

"Are you being difficult on purpose?" Peggy asks.

He shakes his head, "I'm always difficult. Haven't you noticed."

She pinched the bridge of her nose and got up from the couch. "I'm going to go to the bathroom. When I get back we're going to do something fun."

He gave her a thumbs up before she walked out, "Good luck in there!"

He heard a snort of laughter before a door closed.

He sat back against the soft sofa and let out a sigh. Elvis put his head on John's lap and sneezed. John scrunched up his nose before flicking one of his floppy ears, "Yuck."

John heard a small screech. Startled, he looked down at the coffee table to see that it was his phone making that noise. Angelica must have changed it. He picked it up and unlocked it to see a text message from Eliza. He furrowed his eyes, she doesn't usually text him after 9PM.

 _From: Scary sister #2_  
_Joooohn I ned yjor heopl_

 _To: Scary sister #2_  
_????_

 _From: Scary sister #2_  
_shit sorry ** need your help_

 _To: Scary sister #2_  
_What do you need help with?_

 _From: Scary sister #2_  
_why are sofyballs ate hafd?????_

 _To: Scary sister #2_  
_Eliza, how drunk are you?_

 _From: Scary sister #2_  
_Very. Thank you for asking!_

 _From: scary sister #2_  
_Now answer my question Johnny_

 _To: Scary sister #2_  
_I would like to point out that my name is not Johnny._

 _To: Scary sister #2_  
_and I don't know why softballs are hard. Why don't you text Angelica i'm sure that she would know._

 _From: Scary sister #2_  
_i already did and she told me to drink some of that clear stufffff_

 _To: Scary sister #2_  
_Why are you even asking me this? and do you mean water?_

 _From: Scary sister #2_  
_im xsking because french fry asked me and I didnt know amd yeah water!_

Peggy walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. She peered over John's shoulder to read what he was texting.

"Is that my sister?" She asked covering her mouth to hide her smile.

"Yep," John replied looking over at the smaller girl. "Eliza is very drunk and is talking about a french fry guy?"

Peggy frowned for a moment before practically jumping out of her seat. "She's talking about Lafayette."

"Who?" John's thumbs were hovering over the keyboard on his phone.

"Lafayette. You would know who i'm talking about if you agreed to hang out with Herc and his friends." Peggy said as she raised an eyebrow in his direction. "Lafayette is a french bastard."

"That's good to know," John mumbled before looking back down at his phone.

 _To: Scary sister #2_  
_Maybe you should listen to Angie, you should probably drink some water._

 _From: Scary sister #2_  
_water is for the weak_

 _To: Scary sister #2_  
_You can't see me right now, but i'm rolling my eyes._

"She's going to have a massive hangover tomorrow," Peggy was still reading over his shoulder. John nodded his head in agreement.

They sat in silence waiting for the next text to pop up. It took a few minutes but when John's phone finally went off again it said;  
  
_From: Scary sister #2_  
_don't worry johnny laurens my favorite hamilton is here and he probably knows what the answer is!!!_

Peggy turned to him as he put his phone down. "Johnny Laurens?" 

"Don't even ask," he replied with a sigh.

_**00:00:20:01:12** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can find me at my tumblr - http://myxdear.tumblr.com/


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex has dinner with the Washington's.

Alex wipes his palms off on his jeans. He brushes a strand of hair out of his eye before letting his fist knock on the big wooden door in front of him. He shouldn't be nervous. He used to live with the Washington's but he can't help but feel like he needs to be on his best behavior.

The door opens a moment after he knocks to reveal a woman he knows well. He smiles as she wraps her arms around him.

"Hi, Martha," Alex says once he pulls away.

"It's wonderful to see you again, honey." The smile doesn't leave her face as she ushers him into the house.

He walks into the house and immediately looks to see if George is there. Martha must realize what he's doing because she walks into the kitchen and after a minute comes back out with her husband.

George walks up to him and engulfs him in a hug. Alex wraps his arms around the man that practically raised him.

"Alexander, it's great to see you." George pulls away from the hug but keeps one arm around him.

Alex grins up at the larger man, "I didn't have much of a choice. Martha said that if I didn't come over for dinner then she would come over to my apartment."

"It's a good thing that you came over. You're to thin." Martha says as she leads them to the dining room.

When they get to the large table Alex only sees three plates, causing him to frown.

"I thought Laf was coming too." Alexander sits in the chair across from Martha and George.

"He was supposed to, but Thomas is out of town and he invited Gilbert to come with him." George says once he finished pouring wine into three glasses.

Alex rolls his eyes which causes Martha to laugh, "do you not like Thomas?"

"It's not that I don't like him." Alex pauses for a moment. "I just think that he's an ass."

George makes a noise of agreement from the other side of the table. Martha frowns at her husband before passing the bowl of potatoes to Alex.

"Well," Martha says with a huff, "I think that Thomas is a wonderful man."

George smiles at the woman sitting next to him and pats her hand gently. "I'm sure he is, darling."

Alex feels a pang in his heart at the way the couple looks at each other. Since he met the Washington's he has wanted to meet someone who looks at him like the couple across from him looks at each other. He realized awhile ago that no one could be compared to the Washington's. To compare his soulmate to them would be to put them on a pedestal which wouldn't be fair.

"That reminds me," Martha says, "when are you going to meet your soulmate, Alexander?"

"I'm not sure," Alex fakes a smile. He takes a sip of the wine hoping that Martha would get the hint and change the subject. He was fine talking about Lafayette's soulmate, but any conversation that involved his he would like to avoid.

Martha raises an eyebrow at him, "what do you mean? The last time we saw you your timer had two months left on it."

Alex puts his glass down slowly. He should've known that Martha wasn't going to let it go.

He raises his wrist up at her, making sure that his timer is facing her. Her frowns down at it before she looks back at him. "It broke in the car accident."

"Oh, honey, I'm sorry I know how excited you were to meet them." Martha says as she grabs his hand quickly and squeezes it.

George hums from his spot next to Martha. "It's not like he won't meet his them."

"Yeah, but how is he supposed to know if it's his soulmate when he meets them?"

"They'll know. It's not like they don't have a timer."

"How do you know their's isn't broken?"

Alex takes a bite out of the chicken as he watches the two of them. He's thinking exactly what Martha is, if his timer is broken then his soulmate's timer must be as well.

"I don't, but just because Alexander's timer broke doesn't mean that his soulmate's did."

Martha rolls her eyes and and stabs a piece of chicken with her fork. George shifts in his seat once he realizes that his wife isn't going to respond.

The tension in the air is almost to much the bear. Alex clears his throat, "so, the weather has been nice lately."

\-----------

Alex breathes a sigh of relief once he closes the door to his apartment. He adjusts the crutch under his arm before walking into the living room where Hercules is sitting with his laptop. Alex nudges him over so he can sit down. Once he sits he sets his crutch on the side of the couch.

"How was it at the Washington's?" Hercules asks, not looking up at Alex.

Alex makes a noise and leans against Hercules shoulder.

"Awkward," He mumbles. "They argued about my soulmate and we also talked about Jefferson."

Hercules made a hissing noise, "That sucks, man."

Alex nodded against Hercules.

"Martha thinks that my soulmate's timer is broken because mine is."

"You thought that too," Hercules points out.

Alex glares up at him.

"I know, but I don't want to be right." Alex grumbles. "How fucked up would it be if I didn't meet my soulmate because I got into a car accident."

"That would be bad," Hercules says, finally looking at him. "You've been through a lot this month."

He hums in agreement, "I don't deserve half the bullshit that the universe puts me through."

His friend nods his head. He closes his computer and puts it on the coffee table.  
  
"I think that's the first time I've heard you say that you don't deserve the shit that happens to you," Hercules says with a smile.

Alex rolls his eyes and sits up, "I never said that I didn't deserve the other _half_."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Talk to me at my tumblr here - http://myxdear.tumblr.com/


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five days. Five days until he meets his soulmate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly planned on them meeting earlier, but I swear that John and Alex will meet within the next couple of chapters.

_**00:00:05:12:47** _

Five days. Five days until he finally meets his soulmate.John is trying his best not to let it show how excited he his. Angelica would probably tease him about it. A month ago he put up the front that he didn't care whether or not he met the person he was destined (Peggy used that word and John tried not to gag) to be with.

For the past couple of days images of what this person could look like are all that John can think about. He's pictured a woman with long black hair with beautiful green eyes, a man with short sandy brown hair who was taller than him. The image that is more frequent is of a short man with determined eyes. Of course, this picture isn't as solid as the others in his mind. In fact, he blames the youngest Schuyler sister for even putting the image in his head. He's never even met the man that Peggy is constantly talking about but the way that she describes him makes him wonder.

John has only told one person about the images that keep appearing in his mind. The person he told was Eliza and she was probably the only one of his who wouldn't tease him about it. No, she didn't make fun of him, instead she told him that it was probably what everyone with soulmates did.

"So," Peggy starts. "Are we meeting at Hercules apartment or are they coming here?"

John watches as Peggy as she bounced around the living room. He couldn't tell if she was nervous or excited about meeting her sister's boyfriend for the first time.

He looks up at the clock hanging up on the wall and notices that Eliza is thirty minutes late. He's starting to become antsy, as well.

John looks over at Peggy again, "She said that they were coming over here. Something about how she wanted Hercules to meet Maria, too."

"Oh shit, I forgot to tell Maria about that," Peggy mumbles before she pulls her phone out. She quickly types something before shoving it back into her pocket.

John gives Peggy a look that's filled with the laughter that he refuses to let out. She shoots a glare his way and points, "don't comment."

"Why not?" He asks with a smirk playing at the end of his lips.

"Because I said so. If you want to talk bullshit so bad, you can go over to your place."

"I don't think that i've been home in weeks." John grimaces as he says that.

Peggy rolls her eyes at him which John replies with a smile.

They hear a jiggle of a door knob and then a loud knock on the front door. John stands up from the couch while Peggy starts to bounce again.

"What if he doesn't like me," Peggy voice is shaking as she says that.

"Why wouldn't he like you?" John says as he walks to the front door with Peggy at his heels.

She shrugs, "What if I don't like him. _That's even worse_."

John chuckles before saying, "You'll like him. I've only met him once but he seemed pretty cool."

Peggy whispers a quiet _'okay'_ and John opens the door. In front of him is one of his best friends and probably the tallest man he has ever seen. Obviously he's meet Hercules before, but he's still surprised that the man towers over him.

Eliza smiles up at him while Hercules smiles down. He steps to the side to let them into Peggy's apartment. He watches Peggy as they walk in. She almost looks like an ant compared to Eliza's soulmate.

"Hercules, this is my little sister Peggy." Eliza says once they're inside. Peggy smiles up at Hercules and does a small bow. Hercules looks like he's about laugh before he bows back. "And Peggy this is my boyfriend Hercules."

"It is a pleasure to meet you mister Hercules," Peggy says, she's finally stopped bouncing.

This time Hercules does laugh and it booms throughout the space, "The pleasure is all mine."

Eliza and John roll their eyes in unison, "You've already met John so I don't think I need to introduce the two of you."

As a way to say hi John nods his head in Hercules direction. _Why did I even do that, who even does that anymore?_ But before John can put his head into his palms Hercules chuckles and claps a hand on his shoulder.

"It's great to see you again, man."

They all walk into the living room and sit down.They fall into an awkward silence almost immediately. Of all the things that could have happened today, John didn't think that this was going to be one of them. It was a rare occasion for it to be silent when Peggy was around.

John taps his fingers on his knee in an odd rhythm. Eliza tucks a hair behind her ear and looks between everyone and Hercules scratches the bridge of his nose. John is pretty sure that the awkward silence has something to do with the fact that Peggy seems to be sizing Hercules up.

Hercules clears his throat and speaks up, "So, I thought Angelica was supposed to be here."

"She was but she got called into work." Eliza says before giving Peggy a pointed look, "Maria should be here, though."

Peggy rolls her eyes at her older sister. "I forgot to tell her. But she's going to be here any second."

"Maria?" Hercules asks with a frown.

"Peggy's girlfriend," John responds.

Hercules nods, "Alex said something about a Maria. Said that she hated him."

Peggy laughs while a worried look forms on Eliza's face.

"She doesn't hate him." She's smiling now. "She's like that with everyone when she first meets them. Plus, she was mad at me when she met Alexander."

"Why was she mad at you?" That earned Hercules an elbow in the side.

"It's really not a big deal I just wondered off." Peggy shrugs off the question.

"It is a big deal considering last time you wandered off you ended up in Tennessee," Eliza crosses her arms.

"Tennessee?" Hercules questions as he looks between the two sisters.

"It's a long story," John says.

Peggy hums in agreement, while Eliza glares at her.

" _Anyways...,_ " John says, he really doesn't want this to fall into another awkward silence. "How is your friend doing? Peggy told me he got into an accident."

"He's good, he's still got a couple of broken bones, but he's getting better with his crutches." Hercules replied with a fond smile.

"That's good, i'm glad that he's doing good," John smiles.

Hercules fond smile doesn't last for long though, "His timer broke though and he's beating himself up over it."

John frowns, I couldn't even imagines having my timer break. Especially if what Peggy told him was true, it would suck to have it break so close to the time when he was suppose to meet his soulmate.

"If my math is correct, which it might not be, he's going to meet his soulmate within the week." Hercules says, John can't tell what emotion it is that settled it's way onto the man's face. "I just hope he knows who his soulmate is when he finds them."

No one says anything, they all just nod in agreement. They fall into a silence after that and John thanks god that it isn't as awkward as the last one.

 

_**00:00:05:11:56** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can find me at my tumblr here - http://myxdear.tumblr.com/


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex would much rather get coffee at a coffee shop than watch Jefferson cook breakfast in his boxers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are so many cliches in this chapter.

Coffee is an essential piece of Alex's morning. He has to have a cup of it before he does anything. If he's lucky a pot of coffee will already be waiting on the kitchen counter by the time he wakes up. Unfortunately, today is not one of those days. Not only was there not a pot of coffee made, but Jefferson was standing in the kitchen making breakfast in his boxers.

That is why Alex is standing in a line of people waiting to order their drinks. He doesn't usually go into coffee shops but today it feels necessary.

It was harder than he thought it would be to find a coffee shop, but God must have been apologizing because a block away from his work he found a coffee shop. It was right next to The Author's Library, a bookstore that he has been meaning to go to and a an old record store. Beans n' Cream Cafe is more attractive than it is on the inside than it is on the outside. You wouldn't even see the little cafe if you were walking by. It was small and looked rundown but walking through the door was liking walking through the wardrobe to Narnia. Yes, it was small, but it was cozy and peaceful, there was even acoustic music playing softly over the radio.

"Excuse me," A boy, who looks like he's about Alex's age calls from behind the counter, "sir."

Alex looks over the board hanging on the wall one last time, "I'll have an Americano, please."

He watches as the boy in front of him punches in a few number.

"That'll be five dollars," Alex pulls out his wallet and sighs, he'll only have ten dollars left after this." Your drink should be ready in a moment.

Alex nods and walks over to the end of the counter to wait for his drink. He pulls out his phone while he waits and sees that he has two unread messages.

**_From: who puts the glad in gladiator_ **

_YOU LEFT ME HERE WITH LAF AND JEFFERSON. HOW COULD YOU!?!?!_

Alex huffs out a chuckle and types out a quick reply.

**_To: who puts the glad in gladiator_ **

_Tjeff was practically naked in our kitchen, I had to leave. I'm sure you'll survive._

Alex looks up from his phone to see a girl walking up to him with his drink. He smiles at her and accepts it. He tightens the lid on it before he looks back down at his phone.

**_From: The French Fuck_ **

_little alex, you left before breakfast :(((_

_**To: The French Fuck** _

_Sorry, I don't like your boyfriend as much as you do. I don't care to see my mortal enemy in boxers._

Not a second later his phone chimes with a reply.

_**From: The French Fuck** _

_fair enough_

Alex shoves his phone into his back pocket and brings the cup of coffee up to his lips for a taste and fights the urge to moan. It's better than the coffee that they make at home. _I'll have to come here more often._ Preferably later, he thinks as he looks around the small cafe. More people have came in, making the place crowded. Everyone in line is practically shaking, it's such a funny site that he has to bite back a laugh. _Is that what I look like every morning?_

He switches his cup of coffee to his left hand and makes his way to the door. He tries to push as few people as he can. Luckily, he only bumps into a few people by the time that he's a few feet away from the door. He's about to put his hand on the door handle before someone pushes the wide glass door open, knocking him over.

"Shit," he hears someone mutter.

Alex winces once the burn of the coffee sets in. He looks down at himself and sees that his button up is soaked in coffee as well as the cast on his leg. He lets out a growl that would revival a dogs and pushes himself up. This is not how he thought his morning would go.

"Look, man, i'm really sorry I didn't know you that you were standing there." The man apologizes

Alex bends down to grab the cup of now empty up of coffee. When he straightens himself up he's met with a tall man with earth shattering green eyes. The man in front of him really is gorgeous, but he pushes that thought to the side, just because Adonis is standing in front of him doesn't mean that he's not angry.

He tries his best to glare up at the man, it probably doesn't look that intimidating through the red that has settled it's way onto his face. "Maybe you should watch where you're going."

The man frowns at him, "excuse me?"

"You heard me," Alex bites back. "You wouldn't have to apologize if you watched where you swung huge fucking doors."

Alex notices several freckles on the stranger's face. _I would probably count them if this asshole wasn't trying to set me on fire with his eyes._

"You know what," the man sighs. He looks up at the ceiling like he's trying to count backwards from ten. "I don't have time for this."

And with that the stranger walks away and disappears into the crowd. Alex watches him until he can no longer see him.

Alex looks down at his wet cast as sighs. He was finally able to walk (actually it was more like waddling) without a crutch and he hoped that spilling coffee on his cast wouldn't affect that. _I should probably go home and have Herc look at it, though._ Alex thought as he put his hand on the door handle again. He looked behind him in the direction he saw the stranger walk. He still couldn't see him in the crowded room.

Alex shakes his head to get him out of his head. _He's a stranger, there's no reason for you to think about him._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sure you guys can guess who the stranger is...
> 
> Come talk to me at my tumblr here - http://myxdear.tumblr.com/


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Idk I really like the thought of John and Eliza working at a daycare.

**_00:00:00:00:00_ **

When John walks through the doors of the daycare he works at, he doesn't expect to see Angelica. But here she is, leaning against the front desk and talking to Aaron Burr, the man, behind it. He can't hear what she's saying but her arms are waving around wildly and Aaron looks slightly nervous. John doesn't blame him, it's hard not to be nervous around Angelica.

He walks up to the two of them slowly. Aaron is the first one to see him, he gives John one of his fake smiles and John returns it.

"John!" Angelica exclaims as she turns around to face him. Unlike Burr, Angelica's smile is real.

"Angelica!" He huffs out a chuckle.

John reaches for a pen and signs his name on the clipboard on the desk. He also lifts his name tag so Aaron can see it. The man nods in acknowledgement and types something onto his computer.

Angelica looks at the coffee that he's holding and waits a second before plucking it out of his hands. She takes a sip of it and wrinkles her nose. John takes it back and holds in a laugh, she does this every time he buys coffee for himself.

"Are you going to pretend that you don't know why i'm here?" She says as they walk towards the back where the tiny classroom is.

He bites the inside of his cheek. He has a guess on why she's here, but he would really like to avoid the topic. So instead he brings the cup up to his lips and avoids the lipstick on it as he takes a drink of the coffee.

"Seriously?" Angelica rolls her eyes, "you're not going to talk?"

John shrugs his shoulder and takes a larger gulp of the warm beverage.

"I'm here because of your timer." Angelica says when he doesn't reply.

His eyebrows furrow in confusion, "what about my timer?"

They've reached the first door in the hallway and John unlocks it quickly and holds the door open for Angelica to walk in. He was in after her and sets his coffee down at one of the small tables.

The daycare doesn't open for another hour but he likes to show up early to make sure that everything is where it should be. When Eliza started to work here she laughed at that. After all, it's a daycare. Even if everything is where it should be before the children start flooding in, it doesn't mean that everything will be where he left it two minutes later.

He looks around quickly and notices that something doesn't make sense. Why would Angelica be here if Eliza isn't. It's not like the oldest sister works here.

"Where's Eliza?" John asks. He's taking out the little chairs from the corner and placing them around the tables.

"She dropped me off here, she just wanted to run over to get some flowers from next door." Angelica says as she pulls out one of the small chairs and sits down.

John looks around the large room and notices that the flowers that are always out aren't there. _How could I miss that. Eliza always has flowers sitting on one of the counters._

"Can we talk about your timer now?" Angelica asks. She's shaking in an attempt to keep her giddiness at bay.

"I have nothing to say about it," John says. He pulls out one of the small chairs as well and sits down. He can't help but think about how ridiculous he looks.

Angelica rolls her eyes and leans forward to grab John's shoulders, "I know that you met your soulmate today. You need to tell me about it or else I refuse to be your friend."

John grabs her wrists and sets them back down onto her lap with a laugh.

"Where do you want me to start?" John says with a sigh of defeat.

A smug smile forms on Angelica's face. "How did you meet them?"

"I hit them with a door." John tries not to blush at the memory. Angelica raises one of her perfect eyebrows up in a form of a question. John waves one of his hands nonchalantly, "I was walking into the coffee shop down the block and when I opened the door I hit him."

Angelica grimaces before she answers. " _Please_ tell me that you apologized."

John leans back in the small chair as best as he can without falling over the back of it. He lifts up his coffee and takes a drink of it before he replies.

He purses his lips and states, "I apologized."

Angelica looks thrilled when she hears that, "great! So when's the first date?"

John frowns at that. He's been waiting to meet his soulmate for a month now and he just let them go. _To be fair though, they were kind of an asshole._

"There isn't going to be a first date."

Angelica frowns, "what do you mean?"

"I mean," John pauses for dramatic effect, "I didn't get his phone number. Hell, I didn't even have a decent conversation with him."

"Why?" It almost sounds like a whine.

John fights the urge to roll his eyes. He really doesn't want to talk about how he let his soulmate slip out of his hands as if the man were sand.

"Why do you think?" His words are laced with sarcasm. "I hit him with a door and then he preceded to bitch at me, it is reasonable because when I hit him with the door his coffee spilled all over him."

"So you just let him walk out the door?"

John nods, "pretty much."

"Well, what are you going to do now?"

John looks around the room at her question. "I'm going to get this room ready because in a half hour several small children are going to be running around."

John stood up from the table and pushed the chair in. He also grabbed his, now empty, coffee cup and threw it into the garbage.

It's not like he had much to do before the daycare opened. He really only had to bring out a couple of toys for the children to play with. So, with that he walked over to the small office that was attached to the room and brought out a few boxes. When he walked back into the room Angelica stilled sitting in the small chair. She had her arms crossed over her chest as she gave him a deadly stare. _What a perfect way to start the day! I hit my soulmate with a door and I disappoint Angelica._

"Was he at least cute?" Angelica asks.

The way that she's looking at him makes him want to run away and hide. He thinks about that question for a moment. John is immediately brought back to a few days before. He thinks about the when he was imagining what his soulmate would look like. His favorite image and the most recurring one was of a shorter man with determined dark eyes. Today, even with the man shooting daggers into him with his eyes, it was obvious that the man was none other than Peggy's new friend, _Alexander._

"He was more than cute." John replies with a sigh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come talk to me at my tumblr here - http://myxdear.tumblr.com/


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex wallows in self pity. Herc and Lafyette try to comfort him and Peggy gives him a phone number.

The safety of his bed is always the best place to hide. Even though he's not really hiding because three of his friends are currently sitting around his room. Alex remembers locking his door so he's not sure how his friends got into his bedroom but he isn't about to ask. He knows well enough that if Hercules wanted to get into somewhere no lock could stop him.

"So, let me get this straight," even though he can't see Hercules he knows that he's sitting on the chair next to his bed. "You met your soulmate, and you were a complete ass?"

Alex's voice doesn't seem to want to work so he hopes that his friends can see him nod his head from under the covers.

"And Peggy is the only reason that you know that this man is your soulmate?" Lafayette asks.

Alex groans in response. He hears a sigh from his left, right before the blanket is ripped off of him. He tries to pull the blankets back up but he's meet with resistances. When Alex looks up he sees Peggy looking down at him with a frown.

"Are you planning on wallowing in your pity all day?" Peggy questions as she finds a seat next to him on the bed.

Alex shoots a dirty look at her, "I was planning on it."

He hears Hercules chuckle and tries not to smile at that. He had every right to wallow in his self pity. He lost his soulmate. He's been counting down the days since he learned how to count. And now he threw away his shot because he was a jerk.

"I do not see why you're doing that, mon amie," Lafayette's words are paired with him running his large hand through Alex's hair. "It seems like you still have a chance."

Alex let's out an exaggerated sigh, "how could I have a chance? I blew it. Even if I were to somehow run into him again I doubt he would even give me the time of day. I know that I wouldn't, I was an ass."

"True, you were an ass," Peggy says. Lafayette give her a hard look and in response she gives him the finger. "But I know him, John won't judge you until he has a reason too."

"Fine," Alex runs a hand over his face. "Even if he doesn't already hate me, what would the chances be of us meeting again?"

A chorus of sighs rang throughout the room. Alex would have laughed at that if he wasn't in the middle of a crisis. He looks in between his friends and sees Hercules giving Peggy a knowing look. He can't tell what it means so he looks up Lafayette who's looking back at with with a confusion written all over his face.

"What?" Alex frowns at Peggy for a moment, before turning to Hercules. "What am I missing?"

They share another look before Hercules shrugs. Peggy sticks her tongue out at him before turning towards Alex. "Well, my dear Alexander, I think that the chances of you seeing your soulmate again is more likely than not."

Alex looked at her inquiringly, "I don't understand, you're talking in riddles."

Peggy shoves him lightly, "You two are destined to be together," Alex tries not to roll his eyes at the word destined, "Just think about it, Hercules is dating Eliza, and Eliza works with John. How could you two not meet again?"

"Wait," Hercules says to Peggy, "I didn't know that Eliza worked with John."

"You should have. You know that they both work at a daycare. Did you think that they worked at different ones?" Peggy asks sarcastically.

"I didn't give it much thought," Hercules replies with another shrug.

Alex is watching their exchange with an amused expression on his face. Since he met Peggy, Alex knew that her and his friend would get along. He kind of wishes that he was there when the two of them met but it's not like he can do anything about that now.

"Anyways," Peggy's staring at Alex again, "i'm surprised that it took you two so long to meet."

Lafayette broke his silence, "Peggy, can you please just tell us what you mean and stop telling with the énigmes."

Peggy gives Lafayette a dirty look. "I'm surprised because John practically lives with me and we hang out a lot. It's just weird that you guys haven't met."

Alex and Lafayette frown at that, while Hercules laughs. They all look at the man sitting in the chair with different degrees of confusion.

"How are you guys not laughing? You've met the guy _once_ , Alex, and you two seem to be intertwined," Hercules says once he catches his breath.

Alex is the next one to burst out laughing. He doesn't think that he's laughing because it's necessarily funny, but because of how ironic the situation is. Once he settles down he sees Lafayette and Peggy staring at him, both of their eyes wide. Hercules is in the corner silently laughing, Alex can't help it, another rumble of laughter rips through him again.

The hand that Lafayette was running through his hair, stills. Once he is actually done laughing he brings his hands up and lightly swats at Laf, less than a second later the hand starts to move again. Alex leans into the hand, he's pretty sure that if he were a cat he'd be purring right now.

"I read somewhere, that soulmates are intertwined. Not literally, but there is always some link connecting you to them." Peggy says once she knows that everyone is calmed down.

"That's true!" Lafayette chimes in, Alex looks up at him and sees that he's excited. Oh god, that look only means one thing. He's going to start talking about Jefferson. "Thomas and I have Alex in common. If it weren't for _le petit lion_ over here, I don't think that Thomas and I would have met."

Alex says sarcastically, "I'm _so_ happy that I could be of help."

Lafayette scoffs and tugs Alex's hair. "Hush, _petit lion_."

"I didn't see how Eliza and I were connected until now," Hercules says, Alex looks over at him and furrows his eyebrows. "We just ran into each other at a farmers market. But now I see that our we're connected through John and Alex."

"I feel so important," Alex says with a fake smile.

He heard a chuckle come from Peggy, he looked over at her and shot an exaggerated wink her way. She pretended to swoon which caused Lafayette to snort.

"Can we please get back to John and Alex. I want them to get together so they can go on double dates with Thomas and I." Alex can't see Lafayette face, but he can hear the pout in his voice.

"How are we going to get them together though?" Hercules asks.

"Isn't it obvious? We'll make sure that Alex is here and then we'll invite John over. And then," Lafayette snaps his fingers, "like that, they'll fall in love."

Alex grimaces at that, and he can see that Peggy is to.

"I don't think that's the way to go," Peggy says, her distaste for their idea is obvious in her tone, "Hear is what's going to happen, I'm going to give Alex John's phone number and he's going to text him. We're not going to push them, they're going to get together on their own."

From the corner of his eye Alex can see that Hercules is nodding, while he can feel Lafayette let out a frustrated huff. He knows that Lafayette wanted to play matchmaker, but even Laf won't fight Peggy on this. The girl in question seems to be content with the reactions that they gave so she grabs Alex's phone from the bedside table and punches in a few numbers. He's not sure how she managed to unlock his phone, and he's not really sure that he wants to know.

She thrusts his phone at him and Alex takes it hesitantly. He looks down at it and notices that there is a new number in it. He lets out a shaky breath, he looks up at Peggy who is nodding towards the phone in encouragement. _Okay, I can do this._

_**To: John A.K.A the soulmate** _   
_Hi._

Alex winces after he presses send. _I had to say hi, of all things?!_ Lafayette looks over his shoulder to read the message and scoffs.

_**From: John A.K.A the soulmate** _   
_hi... who is this_

_**To: John A.K.A the soulmate** _   
_It's Alex. I know that you don't know who I am but Peggy gave me your phone number._

_**From: John A.K.A the soulmate** _   
_oh,,, i dont know you but pegs talks about you all the time. if you dont mind me asking, how did you find out that were soulmates? i thought that your timer broke_

Alex lets out a sigh of relief. This isn't as hard as he thought it would be.

**_To: John A.K.A the soulmate_ **   
_Peggy told me. She said that your timer hit zero when we met._

After Alex hits send he looks up at his friends. Their all smiling at him, which, in all honesty is kind of creepy.

He feels a tap on his shoulder. He looks behind him and Lafayette. The french man is leaning against the wall behind Alex's bed. Alex was planning on buying a headboard, but he never got around to it.

"So when is it acceptable for me to start making fun of you and your soulmate?" Lafayette asks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally have a plan for this story! I don't know if you could tell before but I was making the story up as I go along but after having writers block I finally decided to plan it out ahead of time. 
> 
> Translations:   
> énigmes - riddles


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **From: alexANDER**   
>  **Afternoon dates are always fun. We could meet up at Beans n' Cream at noon on Friday.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is so short. I'm so sorry it's not even 500 words.

**From: alexANDER**   
**Afternoon dates are always fun. We could meet up at Beans n' Cream at noon on Friday.**

"Are you texting your boyfriend again?" Angelica asks.

John types in a quickly reply before looking over at his friend. She's laying on her back on his bed with her arms crossed over her chest. She's staring at the ceiling with a bored expression on her face.

"Why do you think that?" He doesn't correct her use of the term boyfriend. He knows that if he did she would just give him a knowing look that he didn't understand.

Angelica turns her head and John can see the sly smirk on her lips. He doesn't have anything to hide from her but he feels the urge to hide his phone. He's too slow though because she snatches his phone out of his hands.

John bites the inside of his cheek whilst angelica looks through his text messages. Her face is impassive, making it difficult to tell how she feels about what she's reading.

"Finally!" She lets out an exaggerated sigh and hands him back his phone.

John frowns at his phone and then at his friend.

"You finally have a date with him!" Angelica is grinning now and John finds it hard not to grin as well.

"It'll be a bit weird, don't you think so?" John asks. He rolls over on his side so that he's looking at Angelica.

"Why would it be weird?" Her eyebrows furrow in confusion.

"It's the first time that i'm going to see him after hitting him with a door." John says as if it's obvious. "Plus, we're meeting at the cafe. That's where we met and, I don't know, it just seems weird."

After he finishes talking Angelica doesn't say anything, she just rubs his arm in a way to comfort him.

"I have never panicked about going on a date before. I don't know why this time it feels different."

Before Angelica replies she gives him the look that he hates getting. "You're nervous because this date is more important than the others you've been on.

John shrugs half hardheartedly. He supposes that's why he's so nervous.

"Those other dates you've been on weren't important because you knew they weren't going to go anywhere." Her voice is soft as she says this. "Alexander, he's your soulmate, you know that he's-- what did Peggy call it?" Angelica stops for a moment that then smiles, "he's the one!"

John rolls his eyes at Angelica's words.

"That was incredibly cheesy." He huffs out a chuckle after he says that.

"I know," Angelica states.

"Also, for not having a soulmate, you're weirdly good at giving advice."

Angelica winks at him. "Of course i'm good at giving advice, I'm a Schuyler."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will include Lafayette helping Alex get ready for the date. 
> 
> I didn't plan on this chapter to be mostly dialogue.
> 
> Come talk to me at my tumblr here -
> 
> <http://myxdear.tumblr.com/>


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He's not sure how he can act casual, he doubts that that word is even in his vocabulary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come talk to me at my tumblr here - http://myxdear.tumblr.com/

Alexander has never gone on a date before. He's never saw the point to it, why would you go out with people that you weren't going to end up with? Hercules once said that it was to practice for the real thing, Alex's reply to that was something between a scoff and a laugh.

To be honest, he didn't want to date other people in fear of the fact that he might actually fall for them. Alex didn't want to be in a relationship when he met his soulmate knowing that it would only leave three people heart broken. But now he's met his soulmate and he sort of wishes that he's had the practice. The only things that he knows about dating is what he's learned from Hercules and Lafayette and they're not reliable resources.

"Please tell me you aren't going to wear that, mon ami," says Lafayette from behind him. They're standing in front of the mirror in the bathroom. Alex is trying on different shirts of his while Lafayette shakes his head at all of them.

"I don't see why my shirt has to be perfect," Alex sighs in exasperation. They've been at this for an hour and Alex wanted at least an hour before he had to be at the cafe to panic

"Your shirt doesn't have to be perfect," Lafayette is holding two shirts up, one is maroon and the other is a dark blue, there both button ups which means that they probably don't belong to him. "but the one that you're wearing has a hole in it."

Alex looks down at the shirt that he's currently wearing and frowns when he notices a huge hole on the side. He has no clue how he didn't notice that before.

He pulls the shirt off and turns around to look at Lafayette.

"I'm not sure which one you should wear," Lafayette says, it sounds more like he's talking to himself than he is to Alex. "We should call Herc in here."

Hercules must have been standing outside the bathroom door because as soon as Lafayette says that he peaks his head from around the corner. He's wearing a large grin as he struts into the bathroom.

Lafayette holds the two shirts up for Hercules to see. It takes him less than a minute for him to point at the dark blue one.

"You're nervous aren't you?" Hercules asks. He sits on the edge of the bathtub as Lafayette hands the shirt to Alex. He pulls the shirt on and tries not to wrinkle his nose when he sees how big it is, it's definitely Lafayette's.

"Why would he be nervous?" Lafayette asks the other man. He tries to tuck the large shirt into Alex's pants but Alex swats his hands away. He's not five, he's capable of tucking in his own shirts. "I was excited for my first date with Thomas."

"That's cause you're weird," Hercules says with a chuckle. Alex smiles at his two friend's bickering. "I've never met anyone who wasn't nervous for their first date."

"How nervous were you?" Alex questions. He leans against the sink so that he can face his friends while they talk.

"Is that a serious question?" Hercules laughs, "you've met Eliza. I still haven't gotten used to the fact that she's my soulmate. My heart literally jumps out of my chest every time i'm around her."

Lafayette chuckles, "how poetic."

Hercules flips him off, "why don't you tell us about your first date with Thomas, then?"

"Fine," Lafayette crosses his arms. "I wasn't nervous because I didn't have a reason to be."

Alex and Hercules both furrow their eyebrows in confusion.

"How often do you hear about someone not liking their soulmate?"

Alex looks over at Hercules and shrugs. "He's got a point."

"I suppose that makes sense, but you weren't nervous to actually find your soulmate?" Hercules asks.

Lafayette looks confused by the question.

"No? I was looking for my soulmate since I could tell time, I was practically on the roof when I met Thomas."

"I think the phrase you're looking for is _through the roof_ ," Alex cuts in.

"Thank you, petite lion," Lafayette nodded at Alex.

A small chime rang throughout the room and the three of them turned to Alex's phone that was resting on the bathroom sink. Alex picked it up and unlocked it seeing that he John sent him a text message.

_**From: Laurens** _  
_I'll see you at Beans N' Cream in an hour. :)_

Alex chews on his lips as he read the text message. It's not that he wasn't excited about the date, he was, it's just that it was easier to focus on his nerves.

He sends a quick reply and looked up at his two friends. They're both smiling down at him, Hercules' smile is a bit more comforting than Lafayette's, because he looks like a child that was just given candy.

"Was that John?" Lafayette asks. If Alex didn't know any better he would assume that Lafayette just squealed.

He nods at the question.

"When are you supposed to be at the cafe?" This time it's Hercules that asks the question.

"An hour, so I should probably leave in thirty minutes." Alex replies.

Everyone is quiet for a few moments.

"I don't know if you guys couldn't tell but I would appreciate it if you could give me some tips?" Alex mumbled.

Lafayette is practically jumping up and down with excitement. Alex knows that he's been waiting for this day since the two of them met. "Don't try to prove yourself."

"Huh?" Alex questions.

Lafayette rolls his eyes and sets his hands on Alex's shoulders. "Listen to me, petite lion, whenever you try to prove yourself to someone it doesn't work. You try to hard-"

"I do not-,"

"Yeah, you do Alex," Hercules cuts in. Alex glares at Hercules who only smile in response.

When Lafayette is knows that he has Alex's attention again he continues, "Just act casual. You're a great person to be around and i'm sure that John will see that right away."

"True, you've been texting for two weeks. He's probably fallen for you already." Lafayette nods as Hercules says this.

"Okay, I can try." Alex looks at the ground as he says that. He's not sure how he can act _casual_ , he doubts that that word is even in his vocabulary.

"Just pretend that you're hanging out with a friend. It'll help ease the nerves." Hercules stands up and walks over to his friends. "Anyways, you've got a date to get to. You should probably leave."

Alex looks down at his phone and nods. He should leave but his feet feel like they're glued to the ground.

"You've got this," Hercules pats him on the back and the force from it almost sends him flying.

He lets out a deep breath that he wasn't aware that he was holding and adjusts the sleeves on his shirt. Hercules is right, it shouldn't be hard, he's charming and John is sure to see that.

"Wish me luck," Is all that Alex says. He walks out of the bathroom door and through the apartment. Lafayette and Hercules follow after him. Once he gets to the front door they call out various forms of encouragement.

Once he shuts the door behind him he leans against it and tries to slow the pounding of his heartbeat. They're right, he's about to go on a date with his soulmate who wouldn't be excited?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that this chapter makes up for how shitty the last one was.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Family, occupation, recreation, and dreams.

Alex probably shouldn't feel as nervous as he does, but he can't help it, he's staring up at the door to the coffee shop with shaking hands. He's been standing outside of the building for several minutes now and he can't seem to find the courage to push the door open. Alex knows that John is waiting inside for him (he got a text a few minutes before he arrived telling him that John was there) but he'd rather stand outside and be late than go inside and look like he has no idea what he's doing (he doesn't but John doesn't need to know that).

Alex is aware that he's being ridiculous, he's received many texts messaged from his friends telling him that he has nothing to worry about, but he doesn't know what to do. Maybe if i'm lucky John will be as nervous as me.

He looks around at the tables that are placed outside and see that a few of them are taken by couples. It's obvious that they aren't on their first dates just by the way that their touching. Alex isn't sure what it is about that, but it gives him enough courage to push down his nervousness and open the door to the coffee shop.

* * *

 

John hadn't planned on being early but now that he was he decided that a cup of tea would be the best thing. He would have usually of gone for coffee but he hoped that the tea would calm his nerves. Luckily, after a few sips of it he was finally able to stop the shaking in his hands.

Although he has calmed down he still can't help but look at the door every time the bell above it rings. He's watched several people walk in and wlk out within the short time that he's been there. None of them were Alexander, but John supposed that that's alright because if he can be early then his date can be late. It's not like he's so late that John thinks that he's been stood up.

As he goes to grab his phone to check the time it starts to vibrate. Expecting a text from Alexander, he opens the message to see a text from Peggy.

_**From: Margarita** _   
_hows your date goin??_

**_To: Margarita_ **   
_it's not going anywhere he hasn't shown up_

_**From: Margarita** _   
_give me a second_

John frowns at his phone before stuffing it into his pocket. Peggy doesn't have to tell him what she's about to do for him to know Alexander is getting a slightly vague threat from Peggy.

He must be right because a minute after Peggy texted him the bell chimed signaling that someone walked in. He looks up instantly and sees Alexander. His date looks as nervous as he feels.

Alexander glances around the small shop and when his eyes finally land on John a large smile breaks out on his face. It almost feels like all of the air that was in johns chest was punched out. John wasn't sure of the term breathtaking until now because there was no other way to describe his soulmate. It wasn't even all in his appearance, Alexander just gives off an air of confidence that makes a blush form on Johns cheeks.

Their connection is broken off when someone bumps into Alexander making him stumble. The women that bumped into him seems to be apologizing before Alexander waves her off with a soft smile. Once the women walks away, John watches as Alexander closes his eyes and exhales slowly, he stands up straighter and begins to make his way over to John.

* * *

 

When Alex walks into the coffee shop the first thing that he does is look for John. He's aware that he's late and he wouldn't blame John if he left. After a few seconds he spots his soulmate in a far corner already looking at him. Having John already staring at him causes a large smile to form on his face.

John is much more beautiful than he last remembers. He thinks it must be because he was trying to be angry at the man the first time that they met. even though they're not standing near each other Alex can still see the faint blush that finds its way across Johns freckled cheeks.

All of a sudden a women bumps into him from behind. Alex hesitantly looks away from John and turns his gaze on the women who is now standing behind him.

Alex can't seem to focus on what she's saying but it must be an apology by the way the she's looking at the cast on his arm and waving her arms around. When she stops to take a breath Alex smiles at her and tells her that it's alright, it's not like it's his first time being hit in this coffee shop.

When's she walks away Alex closes his eyes and let's out a long breath. He's not nervous like he was before, in fact seeing John less than a few feet away from him starts up a fluttering feeling in his stomach which propels him forward.

Once Alex is at the table he slides into the seat across from John.

Before he can think of anything else to say he sticks his hand out and says, "hey, I'm Alexander but everybody calls me Alex."

Alex watches as an amused grin spreads across johns face. _Of course he knows my name. I didn't have to introduce myself like that._

Surprisingly, John grabs a hold of his hand and shakes it for a moment. Alex looks down at their hands and fights back the heat that is trying to find its way onto his face.

"I'm John, but I'm guessing you already knew that," John says.

Alex notices that he speaks with a slight southern drawl that he hadn't noticed before. He also notes that johns eyes are green like he thought before but rather hazel.

He barely knows this man and he already has him so far gone.

* * *

 

The first thing that John notices about Alexander when he sits down across from him is the obvious awe on his face as he looks at him. Sure, he's had people look at him with surprised expressions when he does dumb shit but he's never had someone look at him the way that Alexander is. You would think that John created the galaxy judging by Alexander's stare.

After they're done with introductions they fall into comfortable silence. After a few moments of it Alexander gets up to go and get himself coffee. While he's waiting for Alexander to get back he goes over the advice that Eliza gave him before he left. He's not all that sure how he would bring it up in a conversation so he just hopes that Alexander will find out some way to lead it.

Before John finish their imaginary conversation, Alexander sits down across from him. He's holding a large coffee cup that has steam dancing out of it. In his other hand he's holding what looks like a blueberry muffin.

"I hope you know what you're doing because I sure as hell don't," Alexander says as he sets his coffee down. He places his muffin besides if, leaving it untouched.

John takes a sip of his own drink before replying, "Well I've gone on dates before but I've never been this nervous before. So I think that we'll have to go with the flow on this one."

Alexander chuckles at that and nods. "I think that I can do that."

They fall into a silence again. Alexander takes this moment to pick off a piece of his muffin. John's hand tightens around his own cup as he watches Alexander's lips. _Geez, John, you've known this guy for five minutes calm down._

He can't stand the silence any longer. He clears his throats and says the first thing that comes to his mind, "I know that I said that I didn't know anything about dating but before I left Eliza have me a few pointers."

Alexander doesn't say anything, he just nods, encouraging John to continue.

"She told me that we should stick to F.O.R.D," John pauses to examine Alexander's face. He smiles fondly at his confused look. "It stands for family, occupation, recreation, and dreams."

After John finishes explaining Alexander says, "do you want to start or should I?"

* * *

 

"Do you want to start or should I?"

Across from him, John shrugs and says, "I don't really mind. You can start if you'd like."

"I can do that," Alex says, mostly to himself. This is the part that he was most nervous about. He was about to tell John about himself and then he would decide if he likes Alex or not.

Before he says anything he brings up four of his fingers, prepared to count them down as he goes. When he sees John lean forward in his seat he starts, "first, the whole family thing is unimportant. It's just really fucking complicated and I'm sure that I'll explain it one day but I just can't right now. Second, I work at the museum down the street. I'm a tour guide and when I go back to school in two weeks I'll be in my third year."

Alexander stops to take a breath after he's finished with his second statement.

"What do you major in?" John asks before Alex can start speaking again.

"History, what about you?"

"Social work," Alex can't help but grin as Johns face lights up at the mention of his major. "But enough about me for now, you're not done telling me about yourself."

Alexander nods and tries to remember where he left off. When he remembers he starts to speak again, "i want to say that writing for the next one but I'm not sure if it counts. I write biographies about people during the Salem witch trials and the revolutionary war. Lastly, I want to get those biographies published. I know that it sounds like a shitty dream but I really want my work to be published one day. Mainly though, I just want a stable future. I've been told that that's boring but my life wasn't stable when I was younger so I'd like for it to be when I'm older."

* * *

 

John wants to ask what he means when he says that his was was unstable, but he knows that he wouldn't get a straight answer. So he gives Alexander a soft smile and reaches across the table to hold onto Alexander's hand.

"I told you about myself," Alexander says with a small chuckle, "now it's your turn."

"Right," John says quietly. He looks up at Alexander to see that he's already staring at him with his large brown eyes. John isn't sure what it is about them but he would do anything those brown eyes told him to. "Well for family, it's the same as you, I'd rather not talk about that. Not that i'm saying my family is like yours.... I don't even know about your family.... I'd just rather not talk about it-"

"Trust me John, I understand what you're saying," Alexander cuts in.

"I guess that leaves me to talk about my job," John continues. "I work at a daycare with my friend Eliza. I love my job, and the people that I work with. I also love kids so i'm glad that I get to work with them. For hobbies I like to draw and stuff like that. I know that it's not really a cool hobby but it's really relaxing."

"What do draw?" Alexander asks.

John looks down at their hands that are still joined together and smiles, he thought that Alexander would have moved his hand away by now.

"Portraits of my friends," John says. He sits up straight in his seat as he perks up at his other though, "I also draw animals, turtles are my favorite.

"Why turtles?" Alexander questions. He squeezes John's hand and smiles.

"Why _not_  turtles?" John says instead of answering the question.

"You make a fair point, Laurens." John furrows his eyebrows at his last name. Barely anyone calls him by it, but he likes the way that Alexander says it so he doesn't stop him.

"I'm going to continue now, unless you feel like interrupting again." John says with a teasing smile. Alexander shakes his head, so John starts to speak again, "I don't have huge dreams but I would like to become social worker. I know that the system is fucked up and I know that I won't be able to fix it alone, but I would like to try to help children that need help."

"That's amazing," Alexander says once he knows that John is done. His eyes are wide and earnest.

A blush starts to creep up his neck at Alexander's words. "It's not _that_ amazing. These kids need someone to fight for them and i'm willing to be that person."

"Listen, okay," Alexander says as he leans forward in his seat. "When I was younger I wanted somebody to be like you. Trust me, when I say that it's amazing what you want to do I'm not joking, because it is."

John feels his chest tighten when he listens to Alexander talk. When he was thinking about their date before today he wasn't expecting Alexander to seem so honest. John isn't even sure how to react to that so he smiles and says back with the same amount of honesty, "Thank you, Alexander, it means a lot that you would say that."

* * *

 

When they finally walk out of the coffee shop the sun is higher in the sky and burning brighter than it was when they went in. When Alex checks his phone he sees that it's 2:30. The date went better than Alex could have even of hoped for. He was warned before that he shouldn't build John up to be something that he's not, and they were right, John is so much better than he could've imagined. He's not sure how he had gotten so lucky to have someone like John as his soulmate.

"I guess that this is goodbye, then." John says with a small smile. Alex can't help but notice how it doesn't reach his eyes.

"Yeah, I suppose so," He says back. Before either of them know what they're doing Alex pulls John in for a hug. He makes sure to not squeeze to tightly with the arm that's in the cast.

When John pulls back he says, "I call you soon, maybe we could have a second date?"

"I'd love that. You can pick what we do next time, it's only fair since I picked the coffee shop."

John nods at that. They let a quietness spread between them as they look over each other. Neither of them wanting to leave just yet. Their moment is broken when John jumps suddenly and pulls out his phone. It must have vibrated because Alex didn't hear anything.

He's quiet while John reads something and then types out a response with an eye roll. When he looks back up at Alex his smile is apologetic.

"I'm sorry, but I really have to leave. My friend is having some troubles at the daycare and needs an extra set of hands." John says.

"I understand, you should go and help you're friend." When Alexander says this John pockets his phone and nods. He expects him to leave right away but instead he leans down and places a soft kiss to Alex's cheek.

He then sprints off and as if it's a second thought he calls after him, "I call you later, Alexander!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that alot of people like the idea of Alex studying politics but idk I like the idea of him studying history better. 
> 
> Also, I hope that their date lived up to expectations. I know I waited forever to get them together. This chapter is hella long too so I hope that it makes up for the fact that I didn't post this chapter for so long. 
> 
> I also got the F.O.R.D thing from a ladylike video on buzzfeed.
> 
> Come talk to me at my tumblr here -
> 
> <http://myxdear.tumblr.com/>


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I think you look fine,” John finally says.
> 
> Alexander finally moves, taking a few steps towards john.
> 
> “Before you came I was getting ready for, like, an hour,” Alexander chuckles. “I knew you were going to look good and I had to try and match.”

John stood out in the hall of the unfamiliar apartment building. The number fourth-seven was staring back at him as he waited to knock on the door. He’s come close to knocking three times now, but he backs out right before his knuckles touch the door.

He knows that this won’t change anything, Alexander just invited him over to hang out, but it doesn’t change the fact that it makes whatever _this_  is more real. Seeing Alexander’s apartment will make his soulmate seem more real.

John swallows the nervous lump that was forming in his throat and knocks on the door. Less than two seconds later the door is swung open and a tall man with curly hair is standing in front of him. He’s smiling down at John with excitement.

“I was wondering when you were going to knock! Thomas said that I shouldn’t open the door until you are ready!” The man in the doorway said. His voice is weighed down with a heavy French accent.

John doesn’t know what to say as he’s ushered through the door. The French man shuts the door and leads John into the living room. It’s cleaner than John thought it would be And the red and beige furniture that are spread across the living room make the living room look more put together than any other home that he’s seen before.

Another man is sitting on the couch with his arms over the back of it and his feet up on the coffee table. He has an easy smile resting on his face as he looks over John.

“This is Thomas,” the French man says from behind John, “and I am Gilbert but everyone calls me Lafayette.”

john smiles at the two of them, “John, but I’m guessing that the two of you already knew that.”

Lafayette smiles at him and moves to sit next to Thomas. John follows his lead at sits on the chair next to the couch.

As much as John is enjoying Thomas’s and Lafayettes presences he’s starting to wonder where Alexander is.

As if reading his mind Thomas says, “he’s in his room hiding.”

Lafayette, not so subtly, elbows Thomas in the side. “He is not hiding.”

“What would you call it then?” Thomas asks with a raised eyebrow.

Lafayette frowns, obviously searching for an answer, “ _petite lion_ is simply getting ready.”

Thomas scoffs at that and points at a door down the hall. “He’s in there.”

John nods and stands up. He wipes his suddenly clammy hands on his jeans before he makes his way down the hall. He can tell that Lafayette and Thomas are both watching him. Thomas whispers something to Lafayette but it isn’t loud enough for John to make out the words.

When John gets to the door he doesn’t knock right away, he waits for a moment to see if he can hear any movement coming from inside. When all he hears is silence, he knocks.

A few moments later a hesitant, “come in,” is said through the other side.

As soon as John hears those words he opens the door and peaks his head in. Alexander is standing in front of his desk. He’s biting on his nails and John can only assume that he was pacing before he walked in.

John walks further into the bedroom and looks around. There’s a bed pressed against the wall facing him with a chair sitting next to it. On the other side is a messy desk, where Alexander is standing in front of. The room is cleaner than he would have thought it would have been, the only messy part is the desk, which is covered in papers. It’s not what he expected Alexander’s bedroom to look like, but it fits him nicely.

“Hi,” Alexander says, he sounds breathless.

John echoes him almost immediately, “hi.”

“I’m sorry that I didn’t let you in, I swear that I didn’t forget that you were comin’.” Alexander explains, he still hasn’t moved from in front of the desk. “I’ve been trying to get ready and I must have lost track of time.”

John looks over Alexander’s form, he mentally pats himself on his back for keeping the blush on his cheeks at a minimum.

“I think you look fine,” John finally says.

Alexander finally moves, taking a few steps towards john.

“Before you came I was getting ready for, like, an hour,” Alexander chuckles. “I knew you were going to look good and I had to try and match.”

John can’t control the blush that finds its way onto his cheeks. “Well, you did a good job, because you look better than I do on a good day.”

Alexander actually laughs at that, “not possible.”

“Sure,” John says sarcastically. He looks around the small room and then back at Alexander, “are we going to hang out in her or…?”

“I was thinking that we could chill in the living room, but if you want to stay in here you can.” Alexander replies as he scratches the back of his neck.

“The living room is fine,” John answers with a small smile.

“The living room it is,” Alexander says with a short nod. He opens the door and gestures, “lets just hope that Jefferson behaves himself.”

* * *

 

“I don’t get drunk,….I get awesome,” Lafayette laughs. Everyone in the room rolls their eyes, excluding John who is trying to keep up with the story.

“Laf, you are the worst drunk that I know.” Thomas says. John watches with amusement as Alexander tries to suppress a laugh.

“I am not,” Lafayette replies, “ _petite lion_ , tell Thomas that I am not a bad drunk.”

Alexander shakes his head and in between giggles he says, “I have to agree with Thomas on this one. Don’t you remember that time that you got so drunk that you fell.”

John chuckled along and asked Lafayette,“ do you never fall or something?”

“I’m too elegant to fall,” Lafayette says, sticking his nose up in the air.

“Then what would you call what you did that night,” Thomas says.

John notices that Lafayette scrunches his nose up when he tries to think. He’s amazed at how odd that nose scrunch would look like on an average person, but on Lafayette, who can only be describe as godlike, it looks completely normal.

He looks over at Alexander who is already staring back at him. He leans over and whispers in John’s ear, “it’s an act. He’s always charming, but wait until you get to know him.”

John nods in understanding and attempts to hold back a laugh.

* * *

 

“Text me when you get home so I know you’re safe,” Alexander says as he opens the front door for John.

“I doubt anything will happen, I’m gonna be in a cab for twenty minutes.”

Alexander rolls his eyes and John walks out of the door.

“I know that, but I’m still going to worry.”

John chuckles, “alright, Alexander, I’ll text you when I get home.”

“Thank you,"Alexander smiles in appretiction and leans in to kiss John’s cheek. After realizing what he did he pulls back with a shocked look in his face. "Shit, I’m sorry.”

John resists the urge to reach up and touch his cheek. He hopes he’s not blushing.

“It’s alright,” John mumbles.

When neither of them move Alexander glances down at John’s lips, “can I?”

It feels like all the air in his lungs rushed out in one breath. John can’t find the words so he just nods slowly.

Alexander moves a few inches closer to him and tilts his head up. He’s not smiling, but there is a warm fire in his eyes. John is pulled in by the gravity that seems to always be present around Alexander.

When their lips touch, John finally understands the meaning of soulmates. He never thought of himself as missing a half, mostly because he wasn’t but kissing Alexander, John felt more than whole.

When they drift apart, John grins down at Alexander. Before he turns around to leave he brings his lips up and kisses Alexander on the forehead. John feels warm all over as a surprised giggle comes out of his soulmate.

John pulls away and squeezes Alexander’s hand.

“See ya later, Alexander. I’ll text you when I get home.”

Alexander hums in acknowledgment, “I’ll see you later, my dear Laurens.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all should thank Empire for this update cause I finished this chapter while I was watching it. 
> 
> Come find me at my tumblr here  
> http://myxdear.tumblr.com/


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex nods in reply and stands on his tip toes to peck John on the lips. There first kiss was a month ago but he can't help but still feel giddy every time that they touch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a time skip. This chapter is set about a month after the last chapter.

When Alex walks through the doors of the day care he is taken aback by all of the Halloween decorations. He's doesn't know why he's surprised, after all it's a daycare, they usually have decorations up.

When he gets closer to the front desk he notices coloring's of monsters and ghosts.

"How may I help you?" The man behind the front desk asks. He startles again, finally noticing that someone else is in the room.

Burr. It's the first word that pops into his head as he gets a good look at the man. Of all people, he really didn't think that he'd see Aaron Burr today.

"Ii was looking for John," Alexander says, and at his voice Aaron looks up with a shocked expression. When Aaron doesn't say anything back Alexander rolls his eyes and says, "John Laurens. I'm looking for him, he works here doesn't he?"

Aaron blinks himself back to reality and nods, "yeah, he's here why do you want to see him?"

Alex raises his hand up, in it is a steaming cup of coffee. He'd thought that John would like something warm on a chilly day like this, and if he wanted to see his soulmate, well then that was just an added bonus.

"I brought him some coffee, thought that he would like some."

Aaron ignores his answer and asks, "how do you know John?"

Alex lets out a frustrated sigh and sets the coffee down on the desk. If Burr wanted to interrogate him then fine, but he wasn't about to burn his hand in the process.

"He's my soulmate. We met about a month and a half ago."

Aaron nods at that, a real smile starts to make its way onto his face. It's small, if you don't know him then you would probably miss it, but it's real and that counts for something when it comes to Burr.

"I met my soulmate a few months back. We just moved in together." Aaron says, he looks so happy it'd be hard to miss the twinkle in his eyes.

"What's their name? Do I know them?" Alex questions, he was honestly curious.

Aaron shook his head, "no, I don't think that you do. Unless you know a girl named Theodosia."

Alexander thought about it for a minute and then replied, "you're right, I don't know anybody named Theodosia."

"Well, she's great, I'm sure that you'd like her," Aaron says with a genuine smile.

"You're probably right," Alex chuckles. He looks up at the clock above Aaron's head, he had to be back at work in a couple of minutes. "So is John here? I really need to drop this off so I can get back to work."

"Yeah, he's here. You can go back, the kids went home an hour ago so it should just be him back there. His last name is on the door, so it shouldn't be hard to find."

Alex leaves with a quick 'thank you' and resisted the urge to sprint down the hallway. When he made it to the door, he stopped in the doorway, and peaked his head in. In the far corner of the room John was squatting as he picked up some toys and put them into a large yellow bin.

Alex cleared his throat, attempting to get John's attention. His soulmate twisted around, when he saw him he stood up and smiled at Alex. John made his way over and when he was less than an arms reach away, he stopped.

"Why are you here?" It's the first thing that John says, and Alex feels his smile slip a little.

"I brought you some coffee and I wanted to ask you something," Alex replies hesitantly. He holds up the coffee and John takes it.

"Thank you," John takes a sip of the warm liquid before he pulls it away from his face and looks over Alex.

"What I said before, I didn't mean it in a rude way. I'm happy that you're here, just a little surprised."

Alex can almost feel the worry ooze out of him. He didn't think that John wouldn't want him to visit him at work, it was a last minute thought. He was just passing by the coffee shop when he had the idea to bring John a cup, and on the way to the day care he also came up with an idea for the two of them.

"I'm glad that you're happy to see me," Alex says honestly. "I have to get back to work so i'm gonna have to leave in a minute, i'm sure that if i'm late again i'm gonna probably gonna get fired."

John furrows his eyebrows in confusion, "I appreciate the coffee, really, but you said that you came here to ask me something."

"You're right. I got this idea for a date, tell me, what do you think about church fairs?"

"Church fairs?" John echoed. He looked uncertain.

Alex hummed a yes

"Well, I don't really know. I haven't been to a church fair since I was living in South Carolina."

Alex tried to hide his excitement as he was told a new price of information. He had no idea that John was from South Carolina, but now that he thinks about it, it does explain his slight southern drawl.

"You never told me you were from South Carolina," Alex states.

Johns cheeks darken slightly as Alex points it out. He must have let it slip out on accident.

"Yeah, well we can talk about is some other time when you don't have to get to work," John says quickly. He takes another drink of coffee, trying to keep his hands busy.

"Fine," Alex says. He knows that he's pouting, but he refuses to remove it from his face. "Anyways, this Friday there's a church fair and I was wondering if you'd like to go with me."

John thought about if for a moment and then replied, "I'd like to go, but you don't seem like the type to go to church. How did you find out about this fair?"

"Thomas, you remember hims right? You met him about a month and a half ago, he volunteers at Pius. He mentioned it to Lafayette but I overheard and thought that it sounded like fun."

"It does sound like fun," John replied. He places his cup down on one of the small tables and asks, "do you want to meet at the fair or do you want to meet up at one of our apartments?"

"We should probably meet at the fair, I haven't told Jefferson that we're going and if he finds out he's gonna be really fucking smug about it," Alex answers.

"Well that settles it then, I'll see you on Friday. Text me the address so I don't get lost trying to get there, though." John says, with a small laugh.

Alex nods in reply and stands on his tip toes to peck John on the lips. There first kiss was a month ago but he can't help but still feel giddy every time that they touch.

Once he's flat on his feet he says goodbye to John, and blows a kiss only to have John roll his eyes in response.

When he gets to the main room he waves goodbye to Aaron and walks out of the glass doors. When he gets a few steps away from the building his phone chimes and when he looks down at it, it's one of his co-workers telling him that he needed to get back before the boss did.

Alex couldn't find it in himself to even be worried about being late, not after the day that he had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check out my tumblr here - http://myxdear.tumblr.com/


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I think that even if you barely know your soulmate your soul does. Soulmates, I think, are two halves of a whole.

John watches as people walk into the fair. He’s not really sure why some of these people came because they’re bundled and warm clothing. They’ll probably be here for an hour or more so why spend the time freezing.

John, on the other hand, has always liked autumn. He likes watching the leaves change colors and he likes that autumn brings Halloween. In this minute though he likes of the crispy air, which is why he only have the simple hoodie on. The crisp air of autumn has always made it easier for him to think. Right now he doesn’t have much to think about but when he was younger John is sure that he spent most of the chilly season outside sorting through his thoughts.

John pushes that thought out of his mind, he doesn’t want to think about his past right now. So we pulled out his phone and check the time, he knows that he’s early but he is craving for Alexander to be by his side. When he looks down at his phone he sees that it’s 11:24 AM. They were supposed to meet at 11:30 AM and john got here at 11 AM. He probably didn’t have to get you so early but when he woke up this morning he couldn’t fall back asleep so we decided to get ready and come here.

Just as the pockets his phone Alexander comes walking up to him. He looks like everyone else that has walked into the fair. He’s wearing a larger coat than necessary with a matching Scarf. John is actually surprised that he recognized Alexander under all of the heavy clothing he’s wearing. When Alexander is a few feet away from him he looks up and sees John. The smile that his soulmate sends his way he is so breathtaking it makes john wish he had a camera so he could capture that smile forever.

“Hey,” Alexander says as he stops in front of John.

“Hey,” John says back. A feeling of excitement always finds John when Alexander is close enough. He just hopes that it isn’t evident in his voice when he speaks.

There is a brief lull in conversation as Alexander studies John. He can feel Alexander’s eyes scanning his face. John tries not to touch his face but his fingers are itching so he stuffs them in his pockets and waits for Alexander to finish.

“Do you actually want to go to the fair today?” Alexander finally asks.

That isn’t what John was expecting Alexander to say. Honestly, he’s not sure what he was expecting but that wasn’t it.

“Technically, we’re already at the fair,” John says. He’s not sure what he was supposed to say so he just hopes that Alexander will explain.

Alexander rolls his eyes but he has a smile on his face, letting John know that Alexander understood that he wasn’t being serious.

“That’s not what I meant,” Alexander says. “What I meant is - do you want to go in? It’s really cold out and I hate whenever the whether is below 40°.”

John has a hesitates before he replies. He doesn’t really care if they go into the fair or not he just wants to spend time with Alexander.

Alexander must be able to tell what’s going through his head because he thought we says, “Is not trying to blow you off. If you want to do something else I’m totally okay with that because I really do want to hang out with you.”

John honestly couldn’t care less what they do, just as long as Alexander is with him.

He smiles reassuringly and says, “I don’t care if we go in or not. I’d rather not have a popsicle for a soulmate just because I want to ride a couple of rides.”

* * *

 

John is way to aware of Alexander as he unlocks his front door. He hasn’t spent the night at his apartment for at least a week. He usually sleeps that one of the Schuyler sisters homes. -Mostly Angelica’s because he feels left out when Peggy and Maria are in the same room and as of lately Eliza has been sleeping over at Hercules. - He’s pretty sure that his place is clean but that doesn’t stop the panic from starting.

When he unlocked his door, he walks in and turned on the light, with a quick glance around John can actually take a breath of relief.

John stops to the side and causes his keys onto the counter. Alexander walks by him with the confidence of someone who has been here several times before.

John follows Alexander into the living room. He stops in the center of the room and he looks around, when he finally turns back to John he lets out a low whistle.

“We should’ve hung out here instead of at my place,” Alexander says.

John chuckles before replying, “your place is nice, though. My place isn’t that much better.”

“Maybe it’s because I live with two other people,” Alexander says as he plops down on the couch, “three of you count Jefferson.”

“Don’t forget Eliza. If you give her another week she’ll be running the place.”

John down next to Alexander. He’s not sure if he’s imagining it or not but he think that Alexander might have just leaned closer to him.

“Who’s to say that she’s not already running everything?” Alexander laughs and John joins in. It doesn’t surprise John, - Eliza just like her sisters - was blind to be in control.

“I adore Eliza though,” Alexander says after a pause, “I think Lafayette wants her to move in. Honestly though, I think a Jefferson might be afraid of her.

A laugh bubbles up out of John unexpectedly. But he stops suddenly when someone knocks on the door.

John furrows his eyebrows. Nobody ever comes to his door. When Alexander jumps up though John becomes even more confused.

John watches as Alexander opens the door to reveal a man holding a pizza box. Alexander pays him and strolls back into the living room. He puts the pizza on the coffee table and sits back down. John is pretty sure that he is closer than he was before

"You don’t mind do you?” Alexander asks when he notices John starring.

“No,” John answers, “but when did you order it?”

“When we were in the car. I ordered it online.”

They have both finished their first slice of pizza before either of them say anything else. And even when they do start again it’s with Alexander saying, they have both finished their first slice of pizza before either of them say anything else. And even when they do start again it’s with Alexander saying, “So…Hercules and Eliza.”

John looked over at him confusedly.

“Was that a question or do you just like saying their names?”

Alexander take another bite before explaining, “Sorry, uhm, what I mean is - do you think that we’ll ever be like Eliza and Hercules?”

John hesitates before answering, “I’ve barely been around them as a couple but from what I’ve seen, I hope so.”

“I think that they’re already in love,” Alexander says quietly. “I don’t know if they know what yet but it’s obvious to everyone else.”

John does not really know what to say to that so he just says what has been on his mind since their first date.

“I don’t feel like I know you and I want to know you. I want to fall in love with you but I don’t know how to do that if we’re strangers.”

Alexander clears his throat, “ I feel the same way but I don’t know how to get to know you.”

“I think that we might already be having the conversation,” John says more to his pizza than for Alexander. He feels awkward but he knows that this is something that they need to talk about.

“Just feel free to ask me anything.”

John is silent as he watches Alexander think. He’s nervous, he has no clue what Alexander is going to ask but he is going to try and answer honestly.

“You mentioned before that you’re from South Carolina,” Alexander states and John nods, “why did you move to New York?”

John doesn’t think before answering. He knows that if he did he would sugarcoat it and I’m that’s not the point of this conversation. So he says honestly,

“my dad and I never got along. I think it’s partially because my mom left without saying anything to him and he hates her for it. I think he hates me because I look so much like her, well more so than my other siblings. It probably doesn’t help that my personality is so much like hers.”

“That’s not what you asked though,” John sighs and looks over at Alexander. His eyes are twinkling with pity. John can’t stand it, he doesn’t need pity, especially from his soulmate. So he finishes what he was saying because if he doesn’t finish now he may never started it again.

“ I moved to New York so I could be who I am without feeling guilty. My uncle, who lives in New York, always said that in New York you can be a new man. When I lived in South Carolina my dad would always try to change me because he couldn’t understand that I’m my own person.”

John doesn’t look back at Alexander. He doesn’t want to be looked at with pity. He’s over it - he’s moved on. He doesn’t need pity.

“Do you miss them,” Alexander asks quietly.

That question makes John’s head turn. Alexander is looking at him sheepishly.

“Who?” John questions. He can guess who Alexander is talking about but a part of him feels like maybe if you wait to answer then maybe it won’t hurt as much when he says it out loud.

“You’re siblings. You mentioned them and I think that if it were me, I’d miss them.”

John takes a deep breath and says, “I do. I almost stayed for them but you can’t help others until you’ve help yourself.”

The pizza is left untouched of the room falls into an uncomfortable silence. At the beginning of the day John wouldn’t have predicted that he would feel this way now.

When Alexander clears his throat it’s startles John out of his phone.

“I miss my brother,” Alexander says. He glances over at John has Hesitantly.

“I didn’t know you have a brother.” John can see that Alexander doesn’t really want to talk about this and he doesn’t want to push him.

“ I haven’t seen him since I left Nevis.” Alexander grab a piece of pizza and start picking at it. “We were close when we were little but when my dad left the blamed with me.”

“Why would he blame you?” John asks angrily. He’s not mad at Alexander. He’s mad I’m behalf of the little boy Alexander used to be. The little boy who had his dad leave and his brother turn the cold shoulder at the same time.

“I’m a bastard,” Alexander spits that word like its was poison on his tongue. “I don’t mean it like I’m an ass. I’m a literally a bath. My dad left because he found out. I remember so vividly. He called my mom a whore before looking at me like he’s never met me before. I watched as he put a bag of clothes together before leaving. I haven’t seen him sense.”

“Alex…” John doesn’t know what to say. He wants to wrap his arms around Alexander and never let go. If he doesn’t let go then no one will be able to hurt him again.

Alexander doesn’t acknowledge John. And when he does talk it’s more himself them to John.

“ I tore my family apart. My brother has a right to hate.”

John feels an ache in his chest. John knows that he didn’t deserve all the pain is father put him through. Alexander doesn’t. He thinks that it’s all his fault and it kills John.

“It’s not your fault. You were a child and your brother is a dick.”

Alexander chuckles, but it’s hollow. Other than that Alexander doesn’t acknowledge anything that John said.

“Why did you mom leave?” Alexander asks. Alexander looks at John and John is reminded of a vault. Instead of a wall built of bricks Alexander’s is made of steel and John doesn’t know how to break it down.

“She found her soulmate. She was my dads but he wasn’t hers.” John answers honestly.

“She left her husband and children for someone she barely knew?” Alexander questions. The confusion is written all over his face.

“What she did was shitty but I can’t be mad at her. She loved her kids but she was miserable with my dad.” John says, “I can’t be mad at her for choosing herself for once.”

“But still! She barely knew the person she ran off with.” Alexander argues.

“Yeah, but it was her soulmate. I think that even if you barely know your soulmate your soul does. Soulmates, I think, are two halves of a whole so I think when she met her soulmate she ran off with her because she didn’t feel so alone anymore.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been forever since I updated this fic. I hope you like it even though this chapter wasn't as fluffy as the past couple have been. Let me know what you think of it! :)


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